


Small Town

by ashinae, jay_linden



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Alternature Universe, Community: au_bigbang, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-27
Updated: 2010-05-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 18:12:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashinae/pseuds/ashinae, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jay_linden/pseuds/jay_linden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to Port Bowmore, Nova Scotia. Population 700.</p><p>Dan and Casey, roommates since college, co-manage the town's sporting goods store. Dan (who is not-so-secretly in love with Casey) spends most of his time hunting the local longshoremen. Casey (who is very secretly in love with Dan) is sleeping with Sally Sasser, the town's ambulance chasing lawyer. When Bobby Bernstein comes to town to recruit Dan for a GM position at SportChek in Halifax, Casey has to confront his feelings for Dan, or lose him to the 'big city'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: For au_bigbang . Thanks to sabrinagb and fiercy for their beta work. Liberty has been taken with Sports Night canon in making Casey, Dan, and Dana the same age. Also, Bobbi Bernstein is a boy. Quotations from the show sprinkled liberally throughout.
> 
> And the disclaimer: Sports Night is the brainchild of Aaron Sorkin. We are not Aaron Sorkin. The following work of fiction was written for fun and not for profit.

Breakfast.

Food would be a good idea. Dan rolled over and hugged his pillow. Mike was gone--long gone--was his name even Mike? Maybe it was Mark. Or Mickey. Marcus? Matthew. _Ah, who knows._

He rolled over again, blinked at the ceiling, then sat up in bed, running a hand over his head. He needed a haircut. He needed a shower. He needed breakfast. He reached over the side of the bed, grabbed his boxers, and pulled them on before padding barefoot out of his room.

The hardwood was getting colder. Almost that time of year now where he'd have to put on socks in the morning. How tragic. He yawned, rubbed at his face, and then stopped dead in the doorway to the kitchen.

"You're wearing my shirt."

"Excuse me?" She turned away from the cupboard and looked at him.

"You're wearing my shirt, Sally," said Dan, staring at her. She was in his kitchen. She was holding his instant oatmeal. His coffee mug was on the counter. And she was wearing his sweater and apparently not much else.

"I thought you'd still be sleeping," she said.

"You're wearing my shirt."

She looked at him archly. "Should I take it off?" she said, hands going to the hem of the shirt.

He covered his head and closed his eyes, as if he was suddenly being attacked by bats. "Agh! No, no, keep it on!"

"Don't be so juvenile," she chastised him, as though she was his _mother_. He could just imagine her rolling her eyes at him. So he did the only thing a reasonable adult would do:

"_Casey_!" he yelled.

It took him a few moments longer than Dan would probably have liked, but Casey showed up in the kitchen eventually. Looking like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, his hair still wet from the shower. Plus, there was the whole towel wrapped around the waist thing.

Dan stared at him for a moment, just a moment, of hesitation before he pointed accusingly at Sally. "She's wearing my sweater!"

Casey looked rather like he'd prefer to be anywhere in the world except in the kitchen with Dan and Sally in that moment. "She couldn't have known it was yours, Danny," he said, somewhat awkwardly, then turned to Sally, giving her a bit of a Look while Dan couldn't see his expression. "I thought you were going home," he said, the casualness of his voice not really matching his face.

"I'm having breakfast," she said.

"Eat someone else's food," Dan muttered, snatching away the box of peaches and cream instant oatmeal and clutching it to his chest.

Sally shot Casey a look in return. "You put up with him?" she asked, nothing but amusement in her voice.

He just sighed and went to the cupboard for a mug. No one could be expected to put up with this without coffee. "Danny, didn't your mother teach you to share?" Casey said.

"Yes, she did," Dan said, "but Mom isn't here right now."

"Thank God for that," Casey muttered, pouring a huge mug of coffee.

Dan huffed. "She's still wearing my sweater, Casey."

"Oh for..." Casey set down his coffee cup and walked out of the kitchen, coming back a few moments later with a very battered Montreal Canadiens jersey. "Go change," he said, handing it to Sally, then softening his tone before she could hurt him. "Please go change," he said, giving her a kiss after he said it. Not looking at Dan.

She took the kiss like a lady, took the jersey like a lady, and walked away back to Casey's room to change.

Dan scowled and put his peaches and cream oatmeal back in the cupboard. It was tainted now. "Sally," he said.

Casey closed his eyes and sighed, then opened them again and went to reclaim his coffee. "Yes."

"_Sally_," Dan said. "You slept with Sally?"

"Danny, could you please... she's just in my room, which is just over there!" Casey hissed. As though Dan didn't know where his room was.

"You slept with Sally," Dan said, accusingly, though he did drop his voice. "Couldn't you have just slept with Alyson again?"

He took a sip of his coffee, then set it down quickly, eyes watering in pain as he swallowed. "You told me if I slept with Alyson again, you'd lock me in our office and never let me out."

"I'd rather you slept with Alyson again than have you sleeping with Sally the scary lawyer."

"She's not scary!" Casey protested in a loud whisper.

"She's an ambulance chaser!"

"We only have one ambulance, Dan," Sally said, smoothly, coming back into the kitchen wearing the jersey. It left little to the imagination. "It's not difficult to find. And I do _not_ chase it."

"And this is why we don't talk about people behind their backs, Daniel," Casey said, picking up his coffee again. "They tend to come back into the room again."

"You know what? I'm going to go back to bed." Never mind that his stomach was growling loud enough for both Sally and Casey to hear.

"Why, did you leave Martin tied up in there?" Okay, that was a little bitchy. More the tone than the words, but even for Casey, it was a bit snarky.

"Matthew!" Dan shot back, and then his door slammed shut.

"I thought his name was Mark," Sally said, pulling down the oatmeal again and fishing out a packet.

"I don't care what his name is," Casey muttered, ears still ringing from the slam of Danny's door. He took a deep breath and tried his coffee again. Not quite so lethal--good. "I thought you had to work early."

"Yes, I do," she said.

"Okay, then," Casey said, wondering if he looked as awkward as he felt. "Back to handing out cards at the hospital to people wearing neck braces?"

"That's not funny, Casey," she said, as she filled the kettle.

Casey clearly wasn't going to win today. He took down a bowl from the cupboard and placed it in front of Sally as a ceramic peace offering.

"Why thank you," she said, crisply. "Do you want oatmeal, too?"

It was Danny's oatmeal. "No thanks, I've got coffee, I'm good," he said, giving her a spoon too, then going to sit at the table.

"You should eat breakfast," she said. She leaned back against the counter as the waited for the water in the kettle to boil, long, long legs crossed at the ankle out in front of her. "It'll keep up your stamina."

Casey leaned back against the chair, distracted by her legs. "You didn't have any complaints about my stamina last night."

"Did you eat breakfast yesterday morning?" she asked, a little smile twitching at the corner of her lips.

A pause from Casey. "Maybe," he admitted, hiding a grin of his own.

"You see? Make yourself a piece of toast, Casey."

"You sure a piece of toast is going to be enough?" he asked, getting up and going to stand in front of her, hands resting against the counter on either side of her hips.

She lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. "Maybe not," she said. "You might need eggs."

He stayed where he was for a few moments, starting to lean in to kiss her, then pulled back, unwrapping her arms from around his neck. "Not out here," he murmured. "Dan's home."

She sighed. "Then back to your room?" she suggested.

"I have to work... you have to work," he reminded her.

"Then after work," she said. "I'll pick you up."

"I'll be done before you are," Casey said, then kept going after a moment or two. "I'll meet you back here?"

"I can be here by seven-thirty."

Casey nodded. "I'll be here," he said, taking a step back after another moment. "I need to get dressed."

"So do I," she said. "But there should be breakfast first."

"Right," Casey said. "Breakfast. Stamina."

"Exactly."

*

_The night before_

"Casey, you need to stop," said Dan, shaking his head. "This is embarrassing."

"It takes me a few rounds to get warmed up--this time, her ass is _mine_," Casey insisted.

"Oh, in your dreams," Dana said, laughing as she pulled her darts from the board.

"Casey," said Dan, "please stop. I think Dana now officially owns our house, and she can't come in because you haven't cleaned the bathroom in three weeks."

"If I haven't cleaned the bathroom it's because there's a mound of towels barring me from making it in the door," Casey shot back at Dan, pointing at him with his own handful of darts.

Jeremy snorted softly, looking up from the equations he was scribbling on a napkin.

"You're full of lies," Dan said, lifting his chin.

"I dried off with a facecloth this morning!"

"Casey, do you own more than two towels?" Jeremy asked, peeking up from his napkin again.

"Hey! Whose side are you on anyway?" Casey pointed his darts at Jeremy this time.

"Side? I have no side. I'm Switzerland in this particular discussion," Jeremy said, hands raised.

"Remember who signs your paycheques, Jeremy," Dana said ominously, stepping back and aiming, putting a dart just to the left of the bulls-eye.

"I'm on Natalie's side," Jeremy said immediately. "Natalie, whose side are you on?"

"Dana's," Natalie said without thought.

"That's my girl," said Dana with a grin that was just this side of evil. The second dart landed just above the first.

"I know how to pick a winner." Natalie was very proud of herself.

"I am really not feeling the love here, Natalie," Casey protested.

"Do you sign my paycheques?" Natalie asked.

"I get you limited edition Olympic merchandise."

She looked thoughtful. "I may have to move to Switzerland. I hear it's very nice this time of year."

"Natalie!" Dana looked horribly betrayed.

"Limited edition Olympic merchandise."

Dana stared at her.

"I'm going to be working a lot of closing shifts for the next little while, aren't I?"

"You bet you are."

"If it helps?" Jeremy started, leaning over and showing Natalie what he'd been working on, "I've been calculating the probability of Casey ever beating Dana at a game of darts, and while it's still possible, it's really not probable, based on the math."

"Dude!"

"Math doesn't lie, Casey, I'm sorry."

"I love it when you're nerdy," Natalie said with a sigh, looking across at Jeremy.

"Please, you'd love it if he wore a paper sack and sang showtunes," Dan scoffed.

"Probably," Natalie agreed, then suddenly elbowed Dan.

"Ow," he protested.

"Look!" She pointed across the bar, to a particularly good-looking man placing an order.

"Oh," said Dan.

"Uh huh."

"If everyone will excuse me," said Dan, rising to his feet. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," said Natalie with a grin.

Casey scowled impressively at Dan's back. "So much for moral support," he muttered, sighing dramatically to cover. "Jeremy, that makes you my wingman."

"I'm your wingman?"

"You're my wingman."

"You do know that I'm seeing Natalie, right?" Jeremy said, peering up at Casey. "I don't know if I can still be a wingman if I'm not single. I think there are rules."

"Wow, Jeremy, you're seeing Natalie? I didn't know that. I mean, you're both so subtle about it that I think you've kept that fact entirely under wraps," Casey deadpanned.

Jeremy narrowed his eyes at Casey and went back to his napkin.

"Play nice," Dana chastised, tugging out her darts, then recording her score. "It's your turn."

Across the room, the particularly handsome man that Dan had approached was laughing; Dan stood beside him, leaning casually against the bar, and grinning his most charming grin.

Casey moved into position in front of the dart board, distracted by Dan and whatsisname. "Who is that guy? I can't remember his name... is it Martin?"

"Mark," Jeremy supplied. "Or possibly Marvin."

"Matt," said Natalie. Then she frowned a little. "Mike?"

"Martin," said Dana. "He likes Dan. A lot."

Another scowl from Casey, as he focused in on the dart board and threw his first dart. Definitely not imagining he was aiming at Matt-Mike-Martin's _head_.

"Throw that with a little more force next time, Casey," Dana said, half-serious, half-teasing. "Maybe you can get it through to the laundromat."

"Ha. Ha." Casey squinted again and threw... with slightly less force. Maybe.

"Those are actually pretty good," Jeremy said, looking down at his calculations. "Casey seems to be bringing his A game."

Natalie peered down at the napkin, resting her head on his shoulder. "Huh." She pointed. "So if they keep playing another how many rounds, Casey might win?"

"According to this... wow. Triple digits."

"Hey!" Casey protested, back to throwing darts with his former force.

"Casey, you're supposed to get the dart on the board, not the cork surrounding the board," Natalie pointed out.

"Thank you, Natalie, that's extremely good advice," Casey said, using more than the usual amount of sarcasm.

"Don't take that tone with me," Natalie said. "It's not my fault that longshoremen find Dan irresistible."

"What? Don't be ridiculous!" Casey said, giving Natalie a look, then turning back to the board, taking his time aiming.

"You know, you could have all told me that Dan was gay, instead of leaving it for me to find out myself," Jeremy said. Not for the first time.

"Everybody knows Dan's gay, sweetie," said Natalie.

"I didn't! I set him up with my sister!"

There was laughter from behind them as Kim arrived. "That was pretty funny."

"Not to mention that the two of you are always all over each other."

"Dan makes a very comfortable chair," Kim explained

"I think I vaguely remember that," Natalie said. "Dana, do you vaguely remember that?"

"Yes, indeed I do." Dana nudged Casey out of her way with her hip and put a dart in the bulls-eye.

"That's my girl!" Natalie exclaimed, raising her arms in victory on Dana's behalf.

"Okay, it was not your turn!" Unless Casey'd lost count.

"Yes, it was, because there was no point in you finishing your turn," said Dana.

"I'm not done yet! I can still win this one!"

"Three digits, Casey."

"That's enough out of you, Jeremy!"

"Don't snap at Jeremy," Natalie snapped. "It's not his fault Dan's irresistible to longshoremen, either."

"This has nothing to do with longshoremen!"

"Even though this one has his tongue down Dan's throat?" Jeremy said helpfully.

Just before Casey fired off his next dart, while turning to look.

There was a cry of horror; the dart went way off-course and landed on a table, right next to Elliott's hand. "Casey!" It was also not _his_ fault that Dan was irresistible to longshoremen.

"Casey!" Kim punched him in the arm. "Just how am I supposed to sail without Elliott?" she demanded.

"I... he... Jeremy... I need a _beer_," Casey said, all flustered as he slammed the darts down on the table and headed for the bar.

By the time he made it to the bar, Dan and Martin the longshoreman were heading to the door.

Casey looked away as soon as he saw them leaving, refusing to watch Dan go. He thumped down onto a bar stool and dragged the nearest bowl of peanuts over to himself.

"Buy me a drink, Casey?" Sally, having materialised out of thin air, took the bar stool next to him.

He looked at Sally for a few moments, then smiled. "Was that a request or a demand, counsellor?"

*

"You forgot this." Dan dropped the Tupperware container, which held Casey's lunch, on the desk, on top of Casey's reports. "You're welcome."

"I would have said thank you without the passive aggressive 'you're welcome', you know," Casey said, moving it it off of his reports and onto the spot on his desk that was actually already cleared. Because it was where his lunch belonged.

Dan dropped into the chair behind his desk. "Fine," he said. "Good. Well, you're welcome."

"You're still pissed at me."

"She was wearing my vintage Bruins jersey."

"It was in my room, on the pile of clean laundry on the chair, Dan," Casey sighed.

"And she wore it."

"I was in the shower, Danny, I wasn't approving her wardrobe appropriation selection."

"Well I think from now on I'll be keeping my clothes in my own room. See if I ever let you do my laundry again."

"Right, because sorting through your whites and colours is such a thrill for me," Casey muttered.

"It's a thrill you'll no longer experience, my friend," Dan said as he checked his e-mail. "Oh, look. JJ's decided to stay in Palm Springs a few more weeks."

"Gee, isn't it nice to be JJ," Casey said. "Any orders from the boss?"

"He's said specifically for me not to burn the store down in his absence."

"That was one time, and one garbage can."

"And you're supposed to not sleep with any more cashiers."

"That was a lot more than one time, and I've already received those orders from you," Casey said, not looking up from his reports.

"Those goalie pads are _still_ back-ordered, according to someone named Josh," Dan added.

"Well, if Josh wants to continue to be the person we order from at all, I think he should really do something about that, don't you?" Casey tossed Dan the apple from his lunch.

Dan caught the apple and bit into it. "You know what, I think he really should. Hockey season is fast approaching, and we don't want people to have to drive a half hour to go somewhere else to pay less money for goalie pads, do we?"

"We really don't. Do you want to be the good cop or the bad cop?"

"I was bad cop last time. I hate being bad cop."

"Fine, but I'm doing it by email," Casey said, tugging his keyboard closer. "Then you get to make the call and make it all better."

"Be sure to BCC me," Dan said. "I love your vicious e-mails. They give me goosebumps."

"Why Dan, you flirt," Casey murmured, half-smiling as he went to type, adding Dan's email to the BCC field.

"I'm so hot for you," Dan said.

"Well, who wouldn't be?" Casey said, tapping quickly at the keyboard, then hitting the 'send' button with a click of his mouse. "I expect he'll be phoning you a few minutes after he gets that."

"He probably will. So the question is, should I be away from my desk when he calls? Or should I be anxiously waiting for that call?"

"Away from your desk, because otherwise, certainly you could have controlled me, and all my hot-headed temper."

"That's right, I should be away from my desk." Dan got to his feet, stretched, and turned to leave their office. And then he stopped, and turned back to Casey, and pointed at him. "Don't think this means I'm not pissed at you."

"I get it. I'm not allowed to do your laundry anymore. Duly noted," Casey said.

"That's right. No more laundry for you." And then, chin lifted, Dan swept dramatically from the office.

"Sometimes, even the words 'drama queen' seem insufficient," Casey muttered.

"Alyson," Dan said as he strode through to the front of the store. "How's the day treating you?"

"Not as good as your night treated you." Alyson _always_ knew.

"You heard about Matt the longshoreman?" Dan grinned. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"I did. I thought his name was Morris though," Alyson said. "Plus, you've got just-got-laid face, boss."

"I suppose I must have that particular glow," Dan said with a grin. Then he paused, and said, "Melvin."

"Murdoch?" Alyson grinned. "Casey's not nearly so subtle."

Dan scowled a bit and looked away. And then--"Ah, we _do_ have someone in the store. I'll be over there." He gave Alyson a grin, then strode over to the man looking at winter jackets.

The very, very good looking, olive-skinned, dark-haired man. "Can I help you find a size?" Dan asked.

The man smiled at him, and stepped a little closer. "I'm torn between a medium and a large. What's your opinion?"

"Medium will fit you nicely," Dan said. "Not too snug. But, if you're looking seriously for a winter coat, you'll want to be able to fit a sweater on underneath it. Maritime winters are borderline evil."

"So I've heard, Dan." The man's smile got slightly wicked.

Dan blinked. He wasn't wearing a name tag. "Have we met?"

The man tilted his head and looked right at Dan. "You're kidding, right?"

Dan shook his head. "No, I'm not. Have we met before?"

"You're telling me that you don't remember me? Missouri, Dan, come on."

"I've never been to Missouri."

"Yes, you really have," the man insisted. "You, me, a little hotel..." he murmured, getting even closer. He was pretty sure Dan was out. He was pretty sure Dan'd _told_ him he was out.

"Trust me, if I'd slept with you, I'd remember. I... couldn't possibly forget something like that."

"Apparently I can't trust you on this one," he said. "I'd say good to see you again, Dan, but you seem to feel like pretending that we're just meeting for the first time."

"I'm not pretending," Dan protested. "I'd remember if I'd slept with you in a hotel in Missouri."

"Doesn't seem like it! I'm Bobby. Bobby Bernstein. Ringing any bells, Dan?"

Dan blinked. "No?"

His eyes narrow. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna pass on the jacket, _Dan_," he said, turning around and starting to head through the store.

"In all my life, I have never seen you before!" Dan said, following him.

"I really should have known that your offer to come by Nova Scotia any time I felt like it was just so much crap," Bobby said. "No one ever means that sort of thing, but you? You I actually thought were sincere."

"I'm always sincere," Dan said. "I'm the absolute picture of sincerity. But I've never met you, and I've never been to Missouri."

"Right. Of course. Well, you just think about that for awhile, and see if you can come up with a better answer," Bobby said. "I'm staying at the hotel," he added, turning to go, and then turning back. "And unless you can remember who I am? That was _not_ an invitation."

Dan stared at him. "I've never been to Missouri," he said, plaintively.

"See you around, Daniel." And with that, Bobby marched out the door.

Dan watched him go, then raced back to the office, skidding to a halt in front of Casey's desk. "I've never been to Missouri!" he cried.

"Hmm?" Casey didn't even look up. "Josh called back twice, but I just let it ring."

Dan placed his hands down on the top of Casey's desk and tried to catch his eye. "Casey, I have never been to Missouri."

"Sure you have," Casey murmured.

Dan stood straight again. "Road trip?" he asked.

"Road trip," Casey repeated, looking up. "We spent three days in Kansas City."

"Kansas City isn't in Kansas?"

"Kansas City is in Kansas."

"So then I haven't been to Missouri?"

"No, you have. Kansas City is in Missouri," Casey said.

"I'm going to kill you with my own two hands," Dan pronounced. "But later. I'm going for lunch!" Never mind that he just got in. He turned tail and raced out through the store.

"Bring me back a muffin!" Casey called after him, going back to his paperwork.

*

_Two years ago_

Dan ran the paint roller through the tray again. "I think we should go for it," he said.

"Well, okay, but I'm not getting circumcised first, Danny, I don't care what your mother says," Casey said, adjusting the tape around the baseboard.

"I'm not talking about marriage, Casey," Dan said, running the roller over the wall and admiring the shade of blue that appeared. "But I think that if we're still single when we're forty-five, we should, if only for the tax breaks."

"You just want to make sure you inherit that vinyl collection I got from my uncle when he died," Casey said. "I'm considering it, however. But if you weren't talking about that, what were you talking about?"

"The store."

"The store?"

"The store. Saving up to buy it from JJ so he can finally just move down to Palm Springs."

Casey turned around, then stood up. "You're serious, aren't you? You and me, buying the store?"

"Of course I'm serious."

"Have you been looking at my bank statements again?"

"Not since that time you caught me."

"I've been saving. Every paycheque for the last year. I just... didn't think you'd want to," Casey admitted.

"Why wouldn't I want to? What signs could I have possibly given you to make you think I wouldn't want to own the store with you?"

"I have no good answer to this question besides if I asked you, and you said no, I didn't have a next sentence," Casey said.

"We can't have you without next sentences."

"So you see my problem."

"Crystal clear."

"Are we really going to do this?" Casey asked, tossing his roll of tape aside. "Buy the store? Get JJ permanently off our backs?"

Dan abandoned the paint roller. "Yeah," he said, nodding, "I think we are. Does this require beer?"

"This definitely requires beer. I think it might even require manly hugs."

"I'm always up for both," Dan said, more than a little eagerly.

Casey laughed and reached out for Dan's arm, tugging him in for a hug and patting him firmly on the back.

Dan hugged Casey tight, then pulled back a moment and beamed at him. "It's like suddenly we've finally grown up," he said, rather proudly, and then grabbed Casey's hand, linked their fingers, and dragged him to the kitchen, the paint in the living room forgotten.

"You have Montreal Expos sheets, and I have action figures on my shelves," Casey said. "You're right. We're totally adults."

"Damn right we are," Dan said, opening the refrigerator door after letting go of Casey's hand.

Casey got the bottle opener from the drawer, reaching out for the beer after Dan dug it out of the vegetable crisper.

Dan let Casey open the beer, then lifted his bottle. "Here's to adulthood," he said. "May we not completely screw it up."

"Amen to that," Casey said, clinking his bottle against Dan's. "Here's to getting ourselves ridiculously in conjoined debt."

"The only kind of debt I want to be in after paying off my student loans."

"So I'm not the only one thinking of just sending Dalhousie my kidney and hoping that'll cover it?"

"I thought I'd send them my spleen."

"I don't think that they do spleen transplants, Danny."

"No? Because I didn't want to give them a kidney."

"Then I think we should save up enough for a down payment so we can get enough of a loan to pay off JJ all at once, get him and his stupid notes that make absolutely no sense out of our way, and start making some money."

"Does he even know how to write in the English language?" Dan said.

"I don't know... I've stopped reading them for comprehension," Casey admitted. "And if he sends me to SportChek to take notes _one_ more time..."

"You'd think they'd have SportCheks in Palm Springs he could check out."

"Oh, they do. He's now sending me pictures he takes with a camera concealed in his coat. It's very 007."

"Now you're making fun of me," said Dan.

"I will send you the email," Casey said, looking at Dan in utter seriousness.

Dan blinked. "No. I refuse to believe you."

"Would you prefer to remain in denial, or would you like me to send you the jpegs?"

"Denial's a lovely place to be this time of year," Dan said.

"I hear that the greenery is beautiful," Casey agreed. "Denial it is."

"Denial goes well with adulthood."

"You're really enjoying this whole idea of the two of us being adults, aren't you, Danny? Does this mean I have to call you Daniel at all times now?"

"I might just make you do that. I haven't decided."

"Okay, but just keep in mind that I'll be laughing at you in my head if you do," Casey warned him.

"Laughing at me?"

"Daniel is just... I don't know," Casey said, then smiled. "Most of the time, you'll always be Danny to me."

That brought a smile to Dan's face. "I know. I like that."

"Good," Casey said, grinning wider and clinking his bottle against Dan's. "Then get someone else to call you Daniel. I bet Jeremy'd do it."

"I bet he would," Dan agreed. He leaned back against the counter by the sink and looked thoughtful. "What made you worry I might not want to do this?"

Casey sighed, then made himself think about it. "This was never what either of us thought we'd be doing when we grew up, was it? I guess... I thought maybe some day, you might want something more."

"Right," Dan said. "Everybody still thinks I'm going to up and run away."

He sighed again. "I didn't say run away, Danny. I said want something more. There's not a lot here."

"No, there isn't, so of course I'd have to go somewhere else." Dan took a drink of his beer. "It's why you get paid more than me."

"It's not that much... yeah. Probably. We do different jobs, Dan. Take it up with JJ, he sets the budget," Casey said. "I'll tell you what though--if we pull this off, and we can buy the store and run it ourselves? Equal."

Dan looked at him a moment, then nodded. "That sounds fair."

"Good. So. Cutting costs, and saving money... do we start with buying the cheap toilet paper, or should we get the store brand cheese?"

"Take away my good toilet paper and I will hurt you," Dan said.

"Store brand cheese it is."

*

Dan was breathless by the time he caught up with Bobby. He reached out for his arm and said, "Rob."

He let Dan touch his arm, but he didn't stop walking. "I'm sorry, who are you again? I've forgotten."

"You introduced yourself as Rob," Dan said, moving around in front of Bobby, walking backward. "You had glasses and your socks didn't match and I'm positive your hair was not brown."

He stopped, tilting his head and looking at Dan. "You remember that my socks didn't match?"

"I thought it was charming."

Bobby paused for a long time, then smiled. "Kansas City. _Missouri_."

"I didn't realise that Kansas City's in Missouri. Geography was never my strong suit."

"Or long term memory," Bobby said, teasing just a little. "I guess I do look a little bit different, don't I?"

"You do. Wasn't your hair red? Were you dying it?"

"I was, yeah," he said, with a bit of a sheepish look on his face. "I thought it would make me look cool."

"It made you look eccentric," Dan said. "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, we could all use more eccentricity in our lives but--I like the brown hair better."

"Then there's the part where I really grew up hot, isn't there?" Bobby murmured, stepping closer and smiling.

"You did," Dan agreed. "You did a lot. Wanna get lunch with me?"

"You know? I really do," Bobby said. "You sure you can spare the time?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah, I can spare the time."

"Then let's go. So tell me, Dan... where's the best place for lunch in your quaint little town?"

"Isaac's pub. It's not far from here. But then, nothing's far from anything else in this town."

"I can imagine," Bobby said, settling in beside Dan and gesturing ahead of himself. "Lead the way."

"So what really brings you to Nova Scotia?" Dan asked, guiding Bobby along the street to the pub.

"You."

"You're full of shit," said Dan, laughing.

"Actually? I'm completely serious," Bobby said, although he was grinning.

"No, you're not. Now you're just making fun of me. Gorgeous guy like you, coming all the way into this little hole-in-the-wall town to find me? Only in my wildest fantasies."

"I don't know about your wildest fantasies, but I did come looking for you. Except that--mostly--I came looking for your brains and personality, rather than your body. Mostly," Bobby qualified.

"So, what, you're saying you don't want me for my body?" Dan feigned affronted. "And to think I was going to buy you wings."

"You're missing the mostly. The mostly is the part where I absolutely want you for your body, Daniel Rydell," Bobby smirked. "For the rest? I'm technically here on business."

Dan held the door to the pub open for Bobby, then followed him inside. "What sort of business?" he asked, as he walked past the 'seat yourself' sign to find his favourite table.

"I work for... Dan? Is it just me, or is everyone in the room staring at us?"

"They're staring," Dan said. "You're not a longshoreman."

"I'm not a what?"

"A longshoreman. It's kind of obvious. And they're not used to seeing me with a guy who's not some sort of sailor."

"Oh, those guys," Bobby said. "Hey, I could be a longshoreman. If I gained about fifty pounds of solid muscle and started wearing plaid."

"I like you better in your khakis." He looked up as the server approached their table and dropped off their menus. "Thanks, Monica," he said.

"You're welcome, Dan," she said, giving Bobby a good look. "And you are..."

"Bobby," he said, smiling at the server.

"Bobby," she repeated, looking over at Dan and raising an eyebrow. "Not a longshoreman, Dan."

"I know," Dan said. "Aren't you impressed?"

"I am," she said. "I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order, after I call Natalie." There were rules about sharing.

"Um... why does she have to call Natalie?" Bobby asked, as the server named Monica walked back to the bar.

"It's very important that Natalie keep her finger on the pulse of the town, otherwise she has to punish people."

"She... punishes people?" By the look on his face, Bobby was getting more and more concerned about just what kind of place he may have stumbled into.

"Yes, and the punishment is severe. So we make sure Natalie knows everything that's going on."

"You go to a pub with a man who isn't a longshoreman, and that rates a post in the tiny fishing village news. Wow. It's like I've stepped into Pleasantville, only with fish."

"That's pretty much exactly where we are, yeah."

"And what exactly is it you do here? In Pleasantfishingville?"

"I help my best friend running the sporting goods store," Dan replied. "And you never did answer my question."

"I work in Human Resources for SportChek. I'm in charge of Atlantic Canada, and I consult on decisions made for the major cities in Central Canada. Western Canada, they're on their own," Bobby said.

"Aren't they always?" Dan said. "So were you checking us out?"

"Kind of," Bobby said. "You're quite the competition for our store half an hour away, you know."

"We try to be competitive," Dan said. "We're proud of ourselves, and we take what we do seriously."

"You're more than competitive," Bobby told him. "You're kicking our asses."

Dan brightened considerably at that. "Are we really?" He didn't get an opportunity for an answer from Bobby, as Monica returned to take their orders. "I'm going to be very daring today, Monica," he announced as he handed her his menu. "I'm going for the turkey club."

"You realise that I'm going to have to call Natalie again if you do that, Dan," Monica told him, taking the menu and tucking it under her arm. "And for you, Bobby?"

"You know what? I'll have the same, thank you, Monica," he said, giving her a wide smile.

She giggled, then shook her head as she took his menu. "You're here with Dan--even if you're not a longshoreman, you don't fool me," she told him, heading for the kitchen this time.

Dan looked across at Bobby as he leaned back in his chair. "You're already getting painted with the same brush as me," he said. "You sure you want to do this?"

"I think I can handle it," Bobby murmured, smiling at Dan. "So, now you know what I do."

"I do. And I know you're here, being all Mr Corporate Spy."

"Actually, I've already done all my corporate spying," Bobby said. "The spying is the reason why I'm here now."

"I'm not the reason you're here now? I'm hurt."

"I don't care about your store. I want you."

"You want me?" A slow little smile curled Dan's lips. "Well now. Even after I never called or e-mailed you or anything?"

"Professionally. Well, and personally, but I keep being told I should put business before pleasure," Bobby said. "I'll find a way to punish you appropriately for never calling or emailing or remembering my name."

"Hey, I remembered Rob, didn't I?" Dan took a sip of his drink when Monica dropped it off, and fell silent a moment, before he said, "You want me professionally."

"I do," Bobby said. "You're being headhunted, Dan."

"I am?" Dan sat forward, elbows on the table. "Why?"

Bobby laughed. "With how well your store is doing, you have to ask that? You're good, Dan. You're extremely good, and you're being wasted here. I want to start you out managing one of our big stores, and eventually, if it works out, moving up to more of a district manager position. More responsibility, more work, and a _lot_ more money."

Dan paused a moment, then said, "More urban."

"They don't have big stores in the rural settings, no. We looked into putting one here, but JJ wasn't interested in turning his store into a franchise. Too much work for him."

"Yeah, and if Casey and I managed to do it without him, well..." Dan paused again. "This is my home, Bobby."

"I know, and it's very quaint, and I'm sure the people are lovely and it's nice being somewhere that everybody knows your name, your sexual proclivities right down to longshoreman, and everything else, but you're better than this place, Dan. I knew it before, and I'm sure of it now," Bobby said. "I wouldn't be here offering you this if I didn't think so."

"Casey and I are going to buy the store. We're probably only another year or three away."

"A year or three? Probably? Are you really going to hang your future on those kinds of odds?" Bobby asked. "Look. Your little store does well. Too well for us to be any real competition for you. But it's not like you're going to be raking in the profits. You'll cover your costs, pay your employees, but you're not going to be vacationing in Palm Springs. As a manager or district manager, you'll be in charge of the store, but your risks will be incredibly minimized. You won't be financially responsible for your inventory. You won't be paying out of your own pocket if you have a bad month, but your staff still needs a paycheque."

That sounded good. It sounded really good. Dan looked down at his drink and didn't say anything for a long time; long enough for Monica to bring over their lunches. He didn't pick up his sandwich for a while. And then he said, "How long do I have to think about this?"

Bobby took a card out of his pocket and slid it across the table to Dan. "My cell number's on there. I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up, and I want the new manager in place in six weeks. So you've got two to decide, which'll give you a month to get ready. And Dan? For anyone else, it'd be half that time. But I want you."

"You want me professionally."

Bobby took the card back and wrote a number on the back of it. "My hotel room. I want both, Rydell."


	2. Chapter 2

_Three years ago_

"Here's to the best damn rink in Nova Scotia!" Dan raised his mug high to Kim, Chris, Dave, and Will, then took a long drink of his beer.

"Uh oh... why am I already getting the feeling I'm going to be carrying you home over my shoulders, Danny?" Casey asked as he passed by, messing with Dan's hair on the way.

"He's on his fourth--no, I think fifth--beer," Dana said. "He's having a very, very good time."

"You're damn right I am!" Dan shouted, even though Dana was sitting at the same table. "Did you see that game? It was amazing! I've never seen better."

"You let him have five beers?" Casey said. "Tell me he's not mixing."

"No, no... he's definitely not mixing," Jeremy assured him. "Except for the rounds of Jack Daniels that he bought everyone before you got here."

Casey sighed.

"Best damn game ever played," said Dan, stepping over and around Natalie to get at Casey, flinging his arms around him. "Did you see it, Casey? You saw it, didn't you?"

"I saw it, Danny," Casey said, grinning at overly-handsy, boozy Dan. "I was sitting right next to you, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Dan beamed at him. "It was the best damn game ever. You're pretty. Come drink!" He manhandled Casey over to the table.

Natalie hid her giggle behind her beer, and looked at Jeremy. "Welcome to Port Bowmore," she said. "How are you enjoying it so far?"

"It's nice," Jeremy said, looking a little wide eyed. "It's really nice... very friendly. That guy there, I think he grabbed my butt."

"Jeremy," Dan said, loudly, as he leaned across the table, "don't you think Natalie's cute?"

"Yes," Jeremy said immediately, before his eyes went very, very wide. "I mean, no. I mean... in a purely... professional and... co-workerly..."

Casey hid his face behind his hand and tried not to laugh too obviously.

"You don't think our girl's cute?" Dan demanded. "Do I have to take you outside and show you that she's cute?"

"No, Dan," Natalie said.

"I could. I could protect your virtue!"

"She doesn't need you to protect her virtue," Dana said with a heavy sigh, patting Dan's hand.

"No?" said Dan. "Casey, do I need to protect Natalie's virtue? New guy doesn't think she's cute."

Jeremy started babbling so quickly that there was nothing coherent coming from him at all.

"I think Natalie's perfectly capable of defending her own virtue, Danny," Casey told him, pushing Dan's beer closer to him. "But if she needs any help, I'm _sure_ you're the first person she'll ask."

"Ooh, beer," said Dan, making grabby hands before he took the beer and another long drink. "But Jeremy better ask Natalie out soon. It's all she's talked about."

"Dan!" Natalie exclaimed, and kicked him under the table the same time Dana did.

"Ow!" Dan spilled his beer all over the table. "Oh no. My beer."

"I'll get you another one," Jeremy said, before he fled the table.

"You know, Natalie, it is the twenty-first century," Casey told her, grabbing all the available napkins and mopping at the beer. "You could ask Jeremy out yourself. I hear women do that nowadays."

"I was going to do that tomorrow," she said.

"We thought it would be good to at least give the poor boy a full month in town," Dana added.

"See how clever we are?" Natalie said.

"There's a thirty-day rule?" Casey said, swatting at Dan's hands when he tried to help clean up the beer.

"He's barely even settled," said Dana.

"Has Sam threatened to kill him yet?" Casey asked.

"Only the once," Dana said. "I'm proud of him."

"Yeah, but he's threatened to kill him," Casey said. "He's officially settled. Stop patronising the boy just 'cause Natalie wants to jump his bones."

"And she's got a chance, 'cause he looked nervous when I grabbed his butt," Dan said.

"Yes, Dan. You helped," Casey told him, patting his shoulder. "I think the boy sweeps for team heterosexual."

Dan smiled at Casey. "You made a curling joke."

"It felt appropriate," Casey said.

Dan gave him a very noisy kiss to the cheek. "You're funny," he said. "Have I told you that? Pretty and funny."

"Seriously, Dana, I wasn't gone that long," Casey said. "Five beers?"

"Casey?" Dan rested his head on Casey's shoulder.

Dana gave Casey a little smile from behind her beer.

"Casey." Dan tugged on Casey's sleeve.

Casey sighed, then smiled. "Yeah, Danny?"

"You smell nice, Casey."

"Thank you, Dan. You smell like beer and pretzels."

Dan laughed.

"Who bought him this much beer?"

Nobody looked ready to answer that question. Dan snuggled in closer to Casey.

"I know, man," Casey said. "I love you too."

Dan beamed up at Jeremy when he returned. "Casey loves me," he announced, making grabby hands for his new beer.

"That's good, Dan," Jeremy said, looking over at Natalie. "Right?"

Natalie and Dana exchanged glances, and then Natalie smiled up at Jeremy. "Right," she said, and patted his seat. "You're taking me on a date tomorrow night, by the way."

He blinked. "I am?"

"Yes," she said, "you are. Dinner?"

"Dinner... yes. Yes, dinner," Jeremy said, trying to sound slightly more assertive. "When am I picking you up?" he asked, sitting down.

"Six-thirty," she replied.

"Okay... all right." Jeremy looked incredibly pleased. "Hey, Natalie?"

"Yeah, Jeremy?"

"Would you like to go out on a date with me tomorrow? Say, six-thirty? I'll pick you up."

"Yes, I think I would like that very much."

"Then I'll be there," he said, giving Dan a brilliant smile.

Dan smiled back at him. "If you hurt her I'll come after you with an axe," he said, brightly.

"I understand," Jeremy said. "It's only fair."

"Good," said Dan, and finished off his sixth beer. "And that's nothing compared with what Isaac'll do to you."

"And Sam, and Dana, and me," Casey listed.

Jeremy looked concerned.

"Welcome to Port Bowmore," Natalie said, patting Jeremy's hand. "Where people are over protective and Dan needs to go home to bed."

"Do not," said Dan.

"Yeah, you do," Casey said, pushing his beer away from him and toward Dana. "Come on, Danny, I'll get you home."

"I'm not sleepy," Dan protested, though he let Casey and Dana get him up to his feet.

"No, but when beers four and five hit, you're going to end up curled under the table making fun of Natalie's socks," Casey pointed out.

"Natalie wears socks with bears on them," Dan said, overly loud. He thought he felt something peanut-like hit the back of his neck as Casey helped him out through the pub. "Casey?"

"Yes, Danny?" Casey stopped Dan and helped him into his jacket.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going home. It's where your bed lives. And your garbage can."

"I like my bed," said Dan, taking Casey's arm in his as if they were lovers out on a stroll.

"I know you do. I've heard it's very popular," Casey said.

Dan laughed. "Sailors like it."

"I know. Do you know how many times a day I have to resist the urge to make a 'seamen' joke, Dan?"

"Lots?" Dan frowned. "Is this your car?"

"No, that's a mailbox. We're walking," Casey said.

"Oh," said Dan. He held Casey's arm a little tighter. He was quiet for a little while and then he said, "I broke up with Gordon."

"What?" Casey stopped and turned to face Dan. "Did you just say you broke up with Gordon?"

Dan almost fell over. "That's what I said." He grabbed Casey's arm tighter.

"Danny..." Casey started, then hesitated.

"He was no good for me, all right?" said Dan. "I wasn't gonna keep pretending I wasn't sleeping with him. So I called it off. Quits. Done. It's over. No more Gordon-lawyer-face."

"I was going to say _good_," Casey said. "And I was also going to say all those things you just said, and that you've put up with his crap for way too long," he added. "And then I was going to say I'm sorry."

Dan looked at Casey for a moment, then started staggering off down the sidewalk again. "Never liked him anyway."

"Yeah... you did," Casey called after him, catching up and giving Dan his arm again. "That's why you're so pissed off."

"I didn't want to keep hiding," said Dan. "I haven't been hiding since I was sixteen. Over that, thank you. No more separate entrances and secret meetings and if he wants ass he'd better find someone else's."

Casey was not saying he told him so. Nope. No way. Not out loud, anyway. "You're better than that, Danny. Better than him."

"That's right! And it's not my fault he's a coward or he's whatever he is with his stupid lawyer-face and I'm gonna find someone who wants me for me. Like that guy in Kansas. What's-his-name. You know. With the socks."

"I didn't meet what's-his-name with the socks, you just told me about him," Casey reminded Dan. "Rob? Rob. The redhead with the glasses who you ditched me for while you two shacked up in a twenty dollar a night hotel room for three days."

"Yeah!" said Dan. "Yeah, Rob." He pointed. "Is that home?"

"That's another mailbox, Danny." He took Dan's hand and pointed. "That's home."

Dan held his breath as he felt the warmth of Casey's hand on his. "Okay. Hey, Casey?"

"Yeah, Danny?" Casey stayed right next to him, since Dan was getting a little more unsteady on his feet.

"I don't feel so hot," Dan said.

"You gonna throw up?"

"Yep."

Casey hustled him over to the nearest bush as fast as he could.

A few moments, and one very startled cat, later, and Dan stood straight, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand. "I wanna go to bed now."

"That's where we're going now," Casey assured him, starting to lead him toward the house again.

"Okay," said Dan, leaning heavily on Casey until they got up their front walk and through their front door and into the foyer. And then he looked around a little, frowning. "Casey, have I gone blind from beer? I can't see anything."

Casey reached out and flicked the light on.

"I can see!"

"Thank Thomas Edison."

"Thank you, Thomas Edison." Dan took Casey's arm as they made their way through the house and to Dan's bedroom. He sat down on the side of the bed and looked up at Casey without a word.

It was automatic, the way Casey dropped down and helped Dan out of his boots, then knelt up to help him with his pants. Dan'd done it for him when he'd been the one who got blasted, and he'd done it for Dan a few dozen times or so too. "You gonna be okay, Danny?"

"You're my best friend, Casey."

"You're my best friend too, Dan," Casey said, standing up and sitting next to him on the bed. "And Gordon is now, has always been, and will forever be a total jackass. Okay?"

Dan leaned heavily against him. "Okay," he agreed. "I love you."

"I love you too, Danny," Casey said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, then getting up and starting to manhandle Dan under the covers.

Dan grabbed Casey's hands, but then let go, tugging on the covers. "Always will," he said, curling up on his side. "Love you."

"I know," Casey told him, pushing at Dan's hair. "Throw up in the garbage, not on the floor, okay?" he said, moving it closer.

"Okay," Dan agreed, closing his eyes. "Casey?"

"Uh huh?" Casey murmured, turning the light beside the bed out.

"I broke up with Gordon today. Before the bonspiel."

"And that's how come you managed to have five beers before I got to the pub?" Casey absently petted Dan's hair again.

"Isaac makes good beer," Dan said.

"Isaac does make good beer," Casey agreed. "Gordon's not worth the hangover you're going to have tomorrow, you lightweight," he said, teasing gently.

"Probably not. But the beer was good. And the bonspiel was good. And I grabbed Jeremy's butt and the look on his face was priceless."

"Poor Jeremy," Casey shook his head and smiled. "He and Natalie are going to go out, you know."

"Yep." Dan closed his eyes and curled up a bit more. "I'm gonna feel like shit in the morning, aren't I?"

"Yeah, Danny, you are," Casey murmured. "I'll make you breakfast and everything."

"Whatever I say about your parents tomorrow morning, just remember it's the hangover talking."

"I'll remember," Casey said, standing up and stretching. "I know you love me."

"Yeah," said Dan, sleepily. "I love you."

"Go to sleep, Danny."

"Okay, Casey."

"Don't puke on the floor."

"No promises."

"I'm getting a towel...."

*

"So do I need to call Josh?" Dan parked himself on the edge of Casey's desk.

"No... he was sounding progressively more freaked out with each message, and you were taking your time getting back, so I answered your phone and pretended to be you," Casey said. "He's solved the backorder problem, imagine that."

"That is incredible, my friend." Dan paused. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Ask me where I've been."

"I know where you've been. You smell like fish 'n chips, so you've been to the pub."

"But don't you want to know why?"

"Well," Casey said, not looking up from his desk, "it's either because it's lunch time and it was your turn to leave the store, or because you've been to Missouri."

"Because I've been to Missouri," Dan said with a broad grin. "Remember Rob?"

"Rob... Rob... wasn't he the guy with the weird socks? The one who you said was a bottle redhead, kind of goofy looking?"

"He turned out to be hot."

"Didn't you ditch me for him for like, three days back when he wasn't hot?" Casey said.

"I did. Be thankful I don't run away with him for a week."

"If it had been a week, I would have abandoned you in Kansas City."

"No, Casey, I mean now. When I say he got hot, I say he got hot. Just... out of the blue."

"You mean run away with him for a week now?" Casey said, raising an eyebrow, then shaking his head. "Longshoreman?"

"Human resources for SportChek," said Dan.

Casey snorted. "No, seriously, what does he do?"

"He's human resources for SportChek."

"Huh," Casey said, looking up at Dan. "So why is he here? We don't exactly have a SportChek. Don't tell me JJ's going to franchise us."

"No, JJ wouldn't sell. We're good competition for them." Dan got up and casually went to sit behind his own desk. "He's headhunting."

"Headhunting?" Casey took that in for a moment, then shook his head. "No way. I'm not moving."

"I might."

This time, Casey laughed.

"What?" Dan demanded.

"You move? Come on, Danny... you grew up here. You were _born_ here, it's your home. You wrote 'wish you were here' postcards to Isaac's bar while we were in university, and we weren't even legal yet."

Dan shrugged a little. "It's money, Casey, and opportunity."

"Since when do you care about money? You don't own a car, and you only spend money on vintage sports memorabilia," Casey said. "Danny, you're not gonna leave."

Dan frowned a bit and stared at his computer. "Well."

Casey pushed his monitor aside. "Danny. You're not serious. Come on, for some guy who you don't even remember?"

"Well, I remember him _now_. I just didn't recognise him. And he's called Bobby now, apparently."

"Oh, well then, if he's called _Bobby_ you should run away from home and join SportChek," Casey said sarcastically. "What about buying the store, Dan?"

"We're still a couple years away. I could send money back to you."

"Send money back to me? What does that even mean?"

"Well, I'd make a lot more money as the GM of a SportChek than I do here."

"He's offering you the GM of a SportChek?" _Not me?_ Casey pushed that thought away as quickly as possible. "And how am I supposed to run this place on my own?"

"Steal Natalie from Dana and Sam?"

"I like my balls attached, Dan. I find them useful."

"Promote Alyson, hire a new cashier."

"Wow, you've got it all figured out, don't you?" Casey said, tossing his stapler onto the other side of his desk, just because he could. "That must have been some lunch."

"Who said I had it all figured out? I'm just thinking about it."

"I'm sorry, forgive me if I'm finding this ironic, Dan."

"Ironic."

"After how pissed off you got that I hadn't told you I was thinking of buying the store, because I didn't think you'd want to. Because people always think you're about to leave town. Remember?"

"Casey, I wasn't pissed off," Dan said. "And who says I'm going to do it, and who says it has to be forever?"

"So you're going to go off with _Bobby_ and rake in the SportChek GM dollars, and then come back here after all of that?" Casey said, sounding very doubtful.

"Sure, why not?"

"Because no one who leaves like that comes back, and you know it."

"Oh come on. Why wouldn't I come back?"

"Because if I was you, and I had the chance to be a GM of a SportChek in Halifax or Charlottetown, I wouldn't come back either," Casey shot back.

"I guess it's a good thing you're not me, Casey."

Casey stood up abruptly, then looked like he wasn't sure why he was standing.

Dan stared up at him, but whatever he might have said was interrupted by the intercom on his phone. "Dan?" said Alyson, "I need change."

Dan lifted the receiver. "I'll be right there, Alyson." He got to his feet, stared at Casey for a long, long moment, then got to his feet. "You'll probably need to call and tell Natalie the news," he said, "unless Monica already has."

And then he hurried up to the front of the store.

Casey watched Dan go, then sat back down at his desk and sighed, reaching for the phone so he could call Natalie. This was going to be a long day.

*

_Three years ago_

"Jeremy didn't know that Dan's gay." Natalie set the basket of wings down in the middle of the table.

"Jeremy didn't know that Dan's gay? Everyone knows Dan's gay," Casey said.

"Jeremy didn't know."

"How did Jeremy not know?" Casey asked.

"I'm standing right here, you know," Jeremy said. "Just in case you hadn't noticed."

Casey waved absently at him to hush and addressed Natalie again. "Seriously, there are people who step inside the village limits and don't know? I thought there was a sign."

"There should be a sign. Think we could convince Luther Sachs to put one up? We should ask Isaac."

"No." That came from over at the bar.

"Apparently not, Natalie," Casey told her.

"Just think about it, Isaac," said Natalie. She spread her hands as if imagining a large banner. "Welcome to Port Bowmore, population seven hundred, by the way, Dan Rydell is gay."

"Stop making fun of me, Natalie!" Dan called from over by the dartboard with Dana.

"I don't think 'by the way' works very well on a highway sign, Natalie," Casey told her. "And she's not making fun of you, she's making fun of Jeremy."

"I really don't see how I was supposed to just _know_ that," Jeremy protested.

"Everybody knows that," said Natalie. "Everybody. His very Jewish grandma knows."

"The Catholic priest in town gave Dan the phone number for his nephew once," Kim reminded everyone, hanging her arms around Dan's shoulders and watching Dana shoot.

"See? See that right there?" Jeremy pointed at Kim, who was--seriously--nibbling on Dan's neck. "That's why I didn't think he was gay!"

"Kim is the first woman I would take home and make mad, passionate love to, were I not quite so gay," said Dan, reaching back awkwardly to pat her hair.

"There's a list," Casey told Jeremy.

"There's a _list_?"

"There's a list," said Natalie. "I've seen it and approved it."

"Where do you fall on that list?" Jeremy asked her.

"Number two," said Natalie, beaming.

"But we're quite sure that Dan is gay, so this is a metaphorical list, yes?" Jeremy checked.

"Oh, I'd say it's pretty damned metaphorical," Casey said, snorting into his beer.

The game of darts over (and Dana, once again, victorious), Dan sat down at the table next to Casey, pulling Kim onto his lap. "Dana's number three," Dan said, "and Eliza Dushku and Michelle Yeoh round out the top five. Apparently I'm hypothetically turned on by women who could kick my ass."

"So... three real people, and two people who you have absolutely no hope in hell of being in the same room with?" Jeremy said.

"I don't think it really matters, Jeremy," Casey pointed out. "See above re: really damned gay."

"I pine for George Clooney," said Dan, with a very sad sigh, resting his chin on Kim's shoulder. "He never calls. Never writes, except to threaten me with restraining orders."

"Really? He sent me a signed photograph," Kim teased him, wrapping Dan's arms around her waist.

"It must be because you have boobs."

"I'm sorry, don't you mean I have _amazing_ boobs?"

"I'm sorry. I forget these things. They _are_ amazing. Look at them! They're just right there. On your chest. Being amazing."

"And you couldn't give the slightest damn, could you, Danny?" Kim grinned.

"Not in the least. I'm sure in theory they're very nice."

"Looks good from here," Casey said, then raised his hands defensively. "Speaking from a purely aesthetic sense, not from any carnal knowledge."

Dan peered at him a moment, then cuddled Kim a little tighter. "Good. She's my girl, not yours."

"Despite the fact that you wouldn't know what to do with her if you were both naked and there was a gun to your head?" Casey said, while Kim laughed and snuggled back against Dan.

"Despite that, yes." And then Dan looked at Jeremy. "You didn't know I'm gay?"

Jeremy let his hands fall to the side and let out a huge sigh. "No, I didn't. Why do you think I introduced you to my sister last week and kept encouraging her to sit next to you?"

Casey ducked behind Natalie (not easy) and started laughing.

"You thought I'd be a good match for Louise?" Dan asked, smiling brightly. "That's the nicest thing you've ever done for me, Jeremy. Completely wrong gender, but nice." He paused. "Do you have a brother?"

"Sadly, no, I don't have a brother. Louise always wanted someone younger than her, but it didn't happen, and if there was someone younger than Louise, I'm not sure that I could condone that," Jeremy admitted.

"You have a good point," Dan said. "I'd hate for you to have to beat me up." Largely because if it came to that, he might never stop laughing.

"Hey, how come you introduced your sister to Dan, and not to me, as a potential suitor," Casey asked, poking Jeremy in the shoulder, who suddenly looked rather deer in headlights and started stammering.

"Don't make fun of my Jeremy," Natalie said, taking Jeremy's hand. "That's my job."

"I wasn't making fun, I was being sincere!" Casey said.

"Dan's more Louise's type," Jeremy tried.

"Gay men are more your sister's type?" Casey shot back, looking offended... and trying not to laugh. "I'll have you know I'm an extremely handsome man, Jeremy."

"Well... considering the fact that you're not _my_ type, I don't know that I'm in a position to comment on that, Casey," Jeremy said delicately.

"Casey is an extremely handsome man," Dan said, looking across at Casey--and hoping that he didn't look too longing.

"See? Thank you, Danny," Casey said, slapping his hands on the table. "A little love, that's all I'm asking for."

"You... are well put together, and appear to be proportional," Jeremy offered.

"Proportional?" Casey repeated.

"Well, yes, mathematically speaking," Jeremy said, gesturing to Casey's hands. "If we measure the length of your fingers, and compare it to the ratio of--"

"Okay, okay, okay, Natalie, get your man to ease off on the ratios, m'kay?" Casey said, hiding his hands in his pockets.

Dan laughed helplessly into Kim's shoulder.

"He likes ratios, Casey," Natalie said, patiently, squeezing Jeremy's hand. "It's cute and nerdy."

"Not when he's ratioing my... proportionalness!" Casey protested. Loudly.

"Statistically speaking, there's a--"

"JEREMY!"

There were tears streaming down Dan's face. He peered past Kim's shoulder to Dana, to find her with an elbow on the table, her hand hiding her face, and her shoulders shaking. She glanced up, met Dan's gaze, and they both fell into helpless laughter.

Casey tried to glare at Jeremy, who was looking slightly wounded.

"There's no reason to be so adversarial about mathematics, Casey," he told him. "And the ratios were potentially very flattering. Statistically speaking."

"I need a lot of alcohol, please. Doesn't someone at this table work here?" Casey said plaintively.

"Go get it yourself," Natalie said.

Casey pushed up and fled the table of laughing people.

*

"No." Natalie paused. "_No._ You are lying to me. You are telling me dirty lies and I will not stand for it. Oh my God. Oh my God, I have to tell Dana. No, I have to tell Dana right now. I'll call you again later. I have to tell Dana." She put the phone down and yelled, "_Dana!_"

"I'm right behind you."

Natalie whirled around and grabbed Dana's wrist with one hand, Jeremy's hand with the other, and dragged them over to the quiet, cold dairy section. "Casey went home with Sally Sasser."

Jeremy looked at her. "Okay..." he said, waiting for a follow up. "She's the lawyer, right? The..." He gestured with his free hand, indicating Sally's height and relative endowments.

"That one," said Natalie. Then she added, "Twice."

"Twice?" Dana echoed.

"He took her home twice now. Two nights in a row. I have a very reliable source."

"Monica?" asked Dana.

"Monica. She closed up last night and the night before--the night before when Dan left with Malcolm the longshoreman. And then last night? Dan scored himself a hottie--had lunch with him--then met him at Isaac's for dinner and a drink and then they left together. Dan left first both nights and then Casey left with Sally."

"Well... isn't that more like Casey?" Jeremy said. "He usually sticks to the same person, at least for a little while, and Dan takes home cute longshoreman. I mean, he thinks they're cute. I don't think they're cute. Except in an empirical and... I'm not helping. I'm going to stop talking now."

"Probably a good idea," Dana said. Then she turned back to Natalie. "You're reading too much into this."

"Dan's in love with Casey, Dana," Natalie said.

Dana took in an audible breath and held it a moment. Her expression clearly said, _Here we go again._

"Natalie... Dan's kind of gay, and Casey's kind of not. Doesn't that make your hypothesis sort of... unlikely?" Jeremy said.

"No. And Dana agrees with me."

"Natalie..." Dana shook her head. "They're grown men and they're allowed to spend the night with whomever they please."

Natalie looked at Jeremy for support.

"I think I'm going to make a trip back over to Switzerland. Wait. Damn. That doesn't work when it's you."

"No, it doesn't." Natalie hugged her clipboard tighter to her chest. "Sally. Sasser."

"This isn't the apocalypse, Natalie," Dana said with a little sigh.

"I don't understand why you're saying her name so emphatically," Jeremy admitted. "I mean, she's a lawyer, but it happens to some of the best of us."

"She's very tall," said Natalie.

"Uh huh." Jeremy nodded, trying to look like an understanding and sympathetic boyfriend.

"When she wears heels, she's taller than Casey," Natalie added. "Doesn't anyone think this is significant?"

"I think that wearing heels when you're as tall as she is might be considered unwise, particularly for her back, unless she enjoys making boat payments for a chiropractor, but I'm not sure in what other ways it's significant," Jeremy admitted.

"I should go talk to Sam," Natalie announced to no one in particular.

"You do that," said Dana.

Jeremy looked slightly alarmed at that. Maybe there _was_ something wrong. If Natalie felt it was worthy of talking to _Sam_ about...

"Good," said Natalie, rocking forward on her feet a bit, then starting to head to the back. "I'm going to talk to Sam!" she called back over her shoulder.

"You do that," Dana repeated, shaking her head, and then heading back to the front. There might be a customer somewhere.

"Dana?" Jeremy looked at her. "Is it all right that sometimes I think everyone in this town has completely lost their minds?"

"There are times when I agree with you," she said.

Natalie's shoes heralded her arrival before the little knock on the door. "Sam?"

There was an indistinct noise from inside the room. It might even be described as a grunt.

"Casey went home with Sally Sasser," Natalie told him. "Twice. I just finished talking to Monica. You remember Monica, right? She works at Isaac's. Well, she told me that Casey left with Sally Sasser, two nights in a row. The first night was the night that Dan went home with Monty the longshoreman and the second night, Dan left with someone he had dinner _and_ lunch with that day." She fell quiet.

Sam looked up from his computer screen and blinked at Natalie. Twice.

"Dan's in love with Casey."

"Uh huh."

"And Casey's sleeping with Sally Sasser."

Sam blinked again. "Yes."

"I think there needs to be an intervention."

"Natalie?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"Does this have anything to do with the store? The running of the store... the upkeep, the finances, the inventory... anything at all?"

"No."

"And you're telling me about it because..."

"This is bad."

"For the store?"

"For everyone."

"I'm not seeing how it impacts me at the moment, Natalie."

"Okay. Well. I just thought you should know."

"Then consider me informed," Sam said, looking back at the computer. "Natalie?"

"Yes?"

"Go with your gut," he said, looking up at her and winking. "And I never said anything."

She looked at him for a moment, and then a great big smile lit her face. "You mean it?"

"She's unnaturally tall."

If it was at all possible, her smile got even bigger. "I won't let you down on this one."

"That's my girl. But remember--I said nothing." If word got out that he was some kind of 'Dear Abby', his gruff, stern reputation would be ruined.

There was a spring in Natalie's step when she turned to leave the office, but she carefully schooled herself into a demeanour of thoughtfulness by the time she reached Jeremy and Dana at the front again, hopped on till to check out Mrs Bradbury and her groceries, then went to organise a peanut butter display.

Dana watched her carefully. "So how did that go?"

Natalie merely shrugged a shoulder.

"I hate to tell you I told you so."

"No, you really don't."

Jeremy was back to being Switzerland again. Switzerland with a lot of peanut butter instead of chocolate.

*

_Six months ago_

Dan flopped down on the couch next to Casey, slung an arm around his shoulders, and handed him a beer. "What kind of name is Pixley anyway?"

Casey took the beer and flopped his head onto Dan's shoulder. "A stupid one. You were right. All along, you kept saying 'what kind of name is Pixley anyway?' and if I'd listened to you..." He trailed off and took a long drink of beer.

"You learned some life lessons and maybe you got your heart broken, but they were important life lessons," said Dan, running his fingers very gently over the back of Casey's neck.

"I think I'm done with life lessons," Casey murmured. "And dating. Maybe ever." That might be the beer talking. "She couldn't even give me a _reason_. She just said I should know why. But I don't! I don't know why!"

"Neither do I," said Dan. "You're a great catch and any woman should know that." He rested his cheek against the top of Casey's head. "Want me to get you a bowl of ice cream?"

"No... yes. Maybe in a bit," Casey said, leaning a bit more against Dan. "I just feel like an idiot. Here I am completely falling for her, and she can just turn around and say that it's not working, sorry, bye, Casey."

"You're not the idiot," Dan said, "she is. And one day she'll wake up and realise what she's lost and you'll have moved on to someone amazing and she'll just be shit out of luck."

"Most of the women I've dated seem to be more of Pixley's opinion than yours," Casey said morosely into his beer. "I just..." He sighed. "Do you ever start wondering if maybe there isn't someone out there for you? That you're the one person that doesn't have a 'someone' out there waiting for them to find them?"

"No," said Dan, truthfully. He just didn't have to say who he thought that someone was.

"I just... maybe I should stop trying for relationships. Maybe that's my problem. No more relationships. Just sex. I'm sure that's better." He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly. Dan smelled nice. He should ask him what his cologne was. Or just go check.

"I'm not sure that it's better, Casey," Dan said. "I mean, do you want a reputation like mine?"

"There's nothing wrong with your reputation," Casey insisted, sounding angry at the very idea. "Anyone says there is, you just send them to me."

Dan smiled. "You always take care of me, Casey. I like that about you. Remember when you beat up Eric Massey in grade eleven and got suspended for a week, so I skipped class till I got suspended too, in solidarity?"

"Eric Massey was a jerk. And your dad's never forgiven me for that," Casey reminded Dan, smiling against his t-shirt.

"I kind of think that he thought if Eric Massey beat me up, it would scare the gay out of me."

"Yeah, well, sometimes parents can be stupid that way. I don't think there's anything that exists that could scare the gay out of you, Danny." Casey smiled. "And good. Because you're just... you're just how you're supposed to be," he murmured, his beer drifting from side to side as his hand swayed.

Dan reached out and carefully took the beer from him to set it on the coffee table. "So are you, Casey," he said, gently. "And anybody who doesn't see that is insane."

"Lot of insane girls here in town," he said, closing his eyes. "I might have had too much beer, Danny."

"You gonna puke on me?"

Casey hesitated, thinking about it. "No... I don't think so. But I might pass out on you. If you want to be able to get up, you might want to move. Otherwise you'll end up pinned here."

"We should get you to bed. It's a much better place to pass out." Dan wriggled his way out from under Casey, then held out both hands to him. "Up you get, Casey."

He let Dan help him up off the couch, then clung to him, swaying in place. "Danny?"

"Yeah, Casey?" Dan got both arms around him, and started to lead him off to his bedroom.

"I don't want to be alone. I don't want to spend my life alone either. But I don't want to be alone," he muttered.

"You're not alone," Dan said. "I'll stay with you if you want. I just have to get my pillow."

"Don't think I can stand if you let go."

"Then we'll go get my pillow together," said Dan, and helped Casey along down the hallway to his own room. He grabbed his pillow, gave it to Casey, then started to make their way back to Casey's room. "You're never alone, Casey," he said as he helped him down onto the edge of the bed. "You've got me."

Casey was still holding onto Dan's pillow tightly, feeling like all the alcohol he'd drank that evening was hitting him all at once. "You're my best friend. You always have been, Danny. I love you, man."

"I love you too, Casey," said Dan, as he reached for the pillow. "Gotta give me that. We'll want to get you out of your shirt in case there's an unfortunate vomit mishap."

"Nope... not gonna happen," Casey said, although he did give up the pillow. "I don't throw up. I haven't thrown up since the unfortunate peach cooler incident in college."

"There's a first--second--time for everything, but if you're sure you're not going to whine about being wrinkled in the morning..."

Casey sighed and started tugging his shirt up over his head.

"I know you too well." Dan took the shirt, and carefully hung it in the closet--at the back, so Casey would know he'd worn it--then he dropped his own shirt to the floor, wriggled out of his jeans, and returned to the side of the bed in just his boxers. "Bedtime," he said, gently, and leaned down without a thought to kiss Casey's forehead. "I'll be here until you kick me out. Promise."

"Not gonna kick you out," Casey mumbled, eyes already closed. "Danny?"

"Yeah, Casey?" Dan turned off the lights, then crawled up into the bed.

"You were right about her. I know that later I'll be all me, and I won't admit it, but you were right. She wasn't the girl for me. I just wanted to say that."

"You should listen to me," Dan said. "I know these things."

"I know. And you know me," Casey murmured, almost asleep. "I wish you were a girl. Or I was a boy... I mean... you know what I mean," he mumbled.

Dan closed his eyes. His voice was a bit tight when he said, "I know what you mean, Casey." He wished the same thing. He shifted just a little closer, as much as he could, until he could feel how warm Casey was, and stretched out a hand to touch his shoulder. "You're--" Everything. The sun. The universe. "You're not alone."

Casey's hand slowly drifted up to rest against Dan's. "I know," he murmured. "I've got you."


	3. Chapter 3

Dan groaned a little as he rolled over and burrowed closer to Bobby. He smelled... actually, he smelled like he needed a shower, and Dan was pretty sure he did too, but he didn't give a rat's ass.

Bobby murmured and wrapped one arm around Dan, sighing and keeping his arm nice and tight. Sure, they both needed a shower, but that would mean moving. No thanks.

Another little groan, and Dan smiled. "Hey," he said, hoarsely.

"Mmm... hey," he murmured, smiling back at Dan. "Sorry, wasn't sure if I remembered how to speak."

"And you can. Looks like I didn't do a very good job last night."

"I could go back to monosyllables, the way I was last night," he offered.

"You could. That was flattering."

"I thought you'd like that," Bobby said wryly. "Not that it wasn't genuine, mind you."

"I like to know that my men have a good time."

"Well, you can put me on the list as a success then," Bobby said. "Both now, and back then."

"Back then was just a warm up." Dan grinned. "I'd like to think that now's the real show."

"Well, I like to think our longevity has improved."

"Just a little. My God, were those three days that long ago?" Dan sat up, stretched, and looked down at Bobby. "Waffles?"

"God, and you make waffles too? I'm in heaven," Bobby sighed, splaying out across Dan's bed.

"We have a waffle maker." Since Bobby didn't seem to be ready to go anywhere, Dan settled down next to him again.

"You have a waffle maker. Then yes. Waffles. Absolutely waffles."

"But later I guess?" Dan's stomach rumbled angrily.

Bobby laughed. "Maybe not so much later. You sound like we burned through all your available calories and then some."

"There was a lot of exertion last night."

"Several times worth of exertion last night."

"Several times. It was kind of amazing." Dan nuzzled at Bobby's cheek.

"I'm just glad you figured out who I was before I left town. We'd have missed this," Bobby said. "And I have missed this, Dan."

"It was three days forever ago," Dan said. "We were still practically kids. You really thought about me all that time?"

"Well, not every second of every day, I do have some self-respect," Bobby teased. "But I've thought of you, yeah. I felt like we connected, even if it was three days in a crappy hotel room when I wasn't nearly as hot as I am right now." He winked at Dan.

"I mentioned how hot you are now, right?" Dan grinned at him.

"Once or twice. Maybe even as much as three times."

"You're damned hot," Dan said, and gave Bobby a kiss. It'd be hard to tell him that he wasn't going to follow him off to Halifax, but he'd get to enjoy this for a while. "C'mon. Waffles."

"Should there be pants before waffles? Or do waffles beat out pants," Bobby teased, tugging Dan in for another kiss, then standing up.

Dan had to search for something to wear that was pants-like. "There should be pants. We don't need to terrify the straight boy."

"That would be your roommate... the one you were travelling with, right?" Bobby said, finding his jeans and tugging them on. He had no idea where his underwear was, and he wasn't even going to try.

"That's him. Casey. He yelped in a very unmanly fashion the first and last time he saw a naked man in our kitchen."

"Was it you?"

"No, it was a guy I was seeing at the time." Dan tugged a tee shirt over his head, then beckoned Bobby closer. "Waffles now. Or they'll be able to hear my stomach growling in Yellowknife."

"Lend me a shirt to wear, and I'm all yours," Bobby said.

Dan rifled through a drawer and handed over a Dalhousie shirt. "Here."

He pulls it over his head, then looks at it upside down. "Nice. Your school?"

"Yeah." Dan opened the bedroom door. "Political science and economics."

"And now you're working in a sports store in small town Nova Scotia?" Bobby followed him out. "Strange the way the world works, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I join the ranks of the history majors working at the GAP, and the English major baristas."

"It happens to the best of us," Bobby said, squeezing Dan's shoulder.

Dan looked at him. "Don't tell me you're a history major."

"Well, you said not to tell you."

"Okay, for being cheeky, you don't get raspberries with your waffle."

"I don't?" Bobby moved up behind Dan, nuzzling at his neck. "Are you sure?"

Dan leaned back against him. "There might be some way for you to convince me."

"Might that way involve my mouth?"

"It just might." Dan reached back to run his hand through Bobby's hair.

The sound of footsteps was abruptly stopped with a bit of a choked sound.

Dan rolled his eyes ceilingward. "Morning, Casey."

"I..." Casey didn't really know what would come next, so he stopped there.

"Good morning, Dan. Good morning--" Dan turned around, and stiffened. "Sally."

"Good morning, Dan," she said, very sweetly, with a smile.

_Wow. Hello, tension._ Bobby turned as well and offered his hand to the very tall woman. "Bobby."

"Sally," she replied, shaking his hand. "I take it that Dan was the noisy one last night."

Bobby didn't bother being shy, or coy. "Depends on which time," he said.

"Oh, _God_," Casey muttered. "Sally, ever hear of too much information?"

"Grow up, Casey," she said.

"I'm making waffles," Dan said. "I don't suppose I should make enough for the two of you?"

"I'm not hungry," Casey said, moving past Dan and going for coffee. Thank God for automatic coffee machines.

"You're not hungry?" Dan blinked at him.

"No," Casey said shortly. He coffee for himself, then after a moment or two of thinking of it, poured one for Sally and brought it over, handing it to her and slipping an arm around her waist. "So, I suppose you're Bobby... unless you're not and then wow, am I embarrassed."

"No, I'm Bobby," he said smoothly. "Which makes you Casey. I'm guessing I have you to thank for informing Dan that he actually has been to Missouri."

"Yeah, I'm feeling particularly proud of myself for that right now," Casey said.﻿

Sally looked sidelong at him but said nothing.

"And let me tell you, Bobby's pleased that I realised I've been to Missouri," Dan said as he started mixing waffle batter, his back to everyone. He didn't want to have to look at Sally.

"Yeah, Danny, we're all kind of aware of that," Casey said around his coffee cup.

Bobby looked at him, then Sally, then turned back to Dan and smiled at him. "How can I help?"

"You can sit down at the table and Casey can get you a cup of coffee," Dan said. "I've got this. I am a master of the waffle maker." Largely because the mix he had for the waffles only required him to add two ingredients.

Casey gave Dan a Look that clearly said 'I am not your boy toy's waiter', but it didn't stop him from handing Bobby his untouched mug of coffee. "Here. Take mine," he said sulkily, going to pour himself another cup of coffee.

"Well, thanks, Casey," Bobby said, as though Casey'd offered him something not quite so strange as (metaphorically if not technically) used coffee. He took a seat at the table and reached for the sugar bowl.

"Casey, could you get the half-and-half for Bobby?" Dan said, starting to pour waffle mix into the maker.

"Want me to pick up some more condoms for you next?" Casey muttered as he passed him, just loudly enough for Dan to hear him, and no one else. "Bobby, anything else I can get you?"

"No, the cream should do, Casey, thanks," Bobby told him, stirring sugar into his cup.

Sally crossed her impossibly long legs, swinging one foot back and forth. "So Bobby," she said, "what brings you to our fishy little hamlet?"

"What can I say... I've got a weakness for sexy retail workers, and good pub food," Bobby said.

"I suppose I can understand that," she said, casting a glance at Casey.

"And what do you do, Sally?" he asks, stirring his too-hot coffee.

"I'm a lawyer," she said.

"Ambulance chaser," Dan muttered.

"Daniel," Casey said warningly, as though he hadn't called her that a thousand times himself.

Dan made a face, then served up waffles to Sally and Bobby first, then went back to his careful science after making sure they had fruit, whipped cream (from a can--he wasn't a gourmet chef), and syrup.

"This is better than what I was expecting to eat this morning," Bobby admitted. "I asked them if they had room service at the hotel front desk, and this woman kind of laughed at me."

"Yeah, they do that when you ask about room service," Dan admitted.

"They gave me a tiny box of cereal and a handful of creamers," Bobby said.

"Wow, you got creamers? They've stepped things up a notch."

"I'm so not in Kansas anymore," Bobby sighed.

"Yeah, well, not everywhere can be Halifax, can it?" Casey snarked.

"Bustling metropolis that it is," Sally said.

"I just haven't spent much time anywhere rural lately," Bobby said, as though Casey hadn't said anything at all.

Sometimes, it was best to pretend Casey hadn't said anything. "So where have you been spending your time?" Sally asked.

"Pretty much anywhere in the Maritimes and Eastern Canada that's big enough to have a SportChek," Bobby said.

"Right... you're the competition," Casey said. Maybe this was all a big production to get to find out stuff about the store. That's it. Just some business related... stuff. Maybe.

"Are you trying to drive our local boys out of business?" Sally asked.

Bobby laughed softly and shook his head. "To be honest, the store, and your town, is a little small to be of much concern to us."

"Wow. I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted," Casey said dryly.

"Possibly both?" Sally suggested. "Casey, will you come and eat?"

Casey started to protest that he wasn't hungry, but the growl in his stomach from the smell of the waffles answered before he did. Chagrined, he joined them at the table, sitting where he could see Dan.

Under the table, Dan hooked his ankle behind Bobby's. "Waffles good?" he asked. "Do you need more syrup?" He took the bottle from in front of Casey and passed it to Bobby.

Casey hadn't put any syrup on his waffles yet, and he scowled at Bobby, but didn't say anything.

"Thank you, Dan," Bobby smiled at him, pouring more syrup on his waffles, then offering the bottle to Sally.

"Thank you, Bobby," she said, taking the syrup. She poured some on her remaining waffle before passing the bottle to Casey.

Casey was pissed at Dan, so he practically snatched it from her hand, dumping a bunch onto his waffles before anyone else could take it.

"You're welcome, Casey," said Sally, more than a little coldly.

"What? Oh. Thank you," he muttered.

"So, Dan... what's up for you today?" Bobby asked him, running his foot up along the back of Dan's calf.

"I probably need to make an appearance at the store," Dan said, "but after that, I think it's safe to say I'm all yours."

"Hey, Casey--do you mind if I leave you to run the store while I take another short day? No, Dan, go for it--you work hard and deserve the break," Casey mimicked, getting up and leaving his plate still half-full. "I need a shower."

Sally wiped her mouth on a napkin, then pushed back from the table. "Excuse me," she said, and followed after Casey.

"If you don't mind me saying," she said, just loud enough for him to hear when she caught up with him, "I think you're a little overly invested in your roommate."

"You know what, Sally? I actually do mind you saying," Casey said, not caring just how rude he sounded. "I don't think Dan and my relationship is one of your areas of legal expertise."

"You invited me here, Casey," she said, "I think the least you could do is show me a little respect."

_You invited yourself here._ But instead of saying it out loud, Casey just sighed. "You're right. Okay, you're right, I'm sorry. I'm a jackass. Let me make it up to you."

"You'd better," she said, and tossed her shirt to the ground as soon as she stepped into the bathroom.

"How about I help you work off some of those waffles?"

*

Eleven-thirty on the dot, Natalie walked into Sally Sasser's office and plunked herself down in the chair across from her desk. "Hi," she said.

Sally looked up from the notes she was making and turned the page over on her legal pad, smiling at Natalie. Even if she didn't have the faintest clue why she was there... probably something to do with the store. Or a pre-nup. God knows if Sally was going to marry someone like Jeremy, someone who made good money like a pharmacist had to, even in a tiny town like this one, she'd insist on one. "Natalie... how can I help you?" she said.

"You're sleeping with Casey McCall," said Natalie. No point in not jumping right to the point, both feet first. And it wouldn't hurt to try to throw Sally a little bit, too.

Sally's expression didn't flinch. "And if I was, which I'm not prepared to confirm or deny right now, how is that any of your business, Miss Hurley?"

"You should stay away from him. That'd be for the best." Natalie smiled sweetly.

"Is this a threat?"

"No, it's just the way it is," said Natalie. "It's making things complicated."

"Making things complicated," Sally repeated. "You do know that Casey is a grown man who can make his own decisions, don't you?"

"Of course he is," said Natalie. "But what you're doing with Casey is hurting both of them."

"Hurting... okay, this is just ridiculous," Sally said, standing up, towering over Natalie in her heels. "I think you should go," she said, pointing at the door.

Natalie smiled sweetly up at her. "Dan's in love with Casey, and you're not what Casey needs, and now with this SportChek guy in the picture, the whole situation is terribly complicated." Then she frowned a little. "I suppose I need to get rid of Billy the SportChek guy, too."

"Bobby," Sally corrected, turning around and looking at the wall of books, focusing on that instead of Natalie. "This is insane," she murmured to herself. "You came here to tell me that I need to stop seeing Casey. That I'm ruining his life, and apparently Dan's. Have I got that right?"

"Yes," said Natalie. "They're my boys and I have to protect them. I can't let this go too far, or they'll implode, and I don't think any of us can clean that up. They've been best friends since the McCalls moved here when Casey and Dan were seven."

"I really don't think you need to worry as much as you are, Natalie," Sally said, still not looking at her.

"Casey yelled at one of his part-timers yesterday," said Natalie. "Some seventeen year old kid who just likes to play hockey. He never yells at his staff. Something's wrong, and it started not that long ago. So I think I have to worry."

"Well, that's because it's not just that Dan's in love with Casey. Casey's in love with Dan," Sally said.

Natalie bounced up onto her feet. "See, I'm not the only one who knows that."

"Well, Casey doesn't. But then, he also doesn't like me very much," Sally added quietly. "So I don't think I'm that much of a threat, Natalie."

That made Natalie deflate just a little bit. "I'm sorry," she said.

Sally looked back at her, a wide and artificial smile on her face. "It's okay. I mean, plenty of other fish and all that, right? I'm fine," she said. "I just don't think I'm what's standing in the way of Dan and Casey, considering Casey."

"I'll have to work on that," said Natalie. And her work was cut out for her. "Okay, well, I'm glad we're on the same page here. I'll let you get back to work." She turned and headed back for the door. "Sally?"

She lifted her head and looked over at Natalie, a bit of a vulnerable look on her face for probably the first time Natalie'd ever seen it. "Yes?"

"I have it on very good authority that Seth--the volunteer firefighter?--has a crush on you." Natalie gave her a little smile, then slipped out of the office.

Sally watched her go, then shook her head, unable to keep from smiling a little. "Everyone in this town is a little nuts," she murmured, going back to her desk and sitting down... and looking up Seth the volunteer firefighter's number.

*

Dan put a cupcake down on Casey's desk. "I'm not going to run away to Halifax or wherever with Bobby," he said. "So maybe you could make an effort to be social?"

Casey looked up at him. "You said you were thinking about it."

"Well, yeah, but how could I really leave all this behind?" Dan waved a hand.

Casey turned his head, looking around the tiny office they shared. "By whatever method got you out of here as fast as humanly possible?"

"You think I'm gonna leave you, and everybody, behind here just 'cause of some hot guy?"

Casey sighed and set down the papers he was reading. "I think it's a great opportunity, and you'd be an idiot to pass it up. The hot guy is a bonus, and I've been being a prick for two days."

"Casey, I don't wanna leave," said Dan, going to the safe to get the bank deposit and reports from yesterday.

"I know. Maybe that's the problem."

"What do you mean?" Dan settled in behind his desk and started to sort the credit card and debit slips, not looking over at Casey.

"What is there for you here, Danny?" Casey said. "Longshoremen and a job where JJ doesn't think you should get paid even close to what I do. You've got a chance to go somewhere where you could make something of yourself. Find someone real, even if it turns out that it's not Bobby. And you're going to stick around here because it's where you grew up? That's just stupid."

Dan looked up at him, MasterCard slips clutched in his hand. "You think I should go," he said. Should he feel betrayed? Did he? He had no idea what he felt at all. "Don't you want me here?"

"I think that you should think of what's best for you for once, that's all," Casey said, ignoring the way he didn't want to have this conversation. The way it was making him feel sick to his stomach.

Dan looked down, realised he'd completely crumpled up the slips, and started trying to smooth them. He couldn't look across at Casey. "Maybe I will," he said. "After all, I could always send money back. Help you buy the store."

"Dan, don't you get it?" Casey tossed his pen across the desk. "You need to get out of here. You need to just... get out of this town and get it out of your head. Build a life, find a boyfriend, all of those things that aren't going to happen for you here. You're too stuck in who everyone else thinks you are. Go be who you can be."

Dan flinched, sitting back in his chair as though Casey had just struck him. "I've gotta go see if Alyson needs change," he said, hoarsely, abandoning the deposit on his desk. He was pretty sure he was going to throw up.

"Danny..." Casey half got up out of his chair, watched him go, then flopped back down in it again, rubbing his hand against his forehead. "Fuck," he muttered, closing his eyes. He felt like he was going to be sick. _It's for his own good. You can't keep holding him back when he's got a chance like this._ He kind of wanted to punch his inner thoughts in the neck.

Dan didn't say a word when he returned to crouch in front of the safe; some fives, a couple tens, roll of quarters, and he was off again. The next time he came back into the office, he sat quietly at his desk to finish the bank deposit, the only sound in the tiny room the buttons on his calculator.

He didn't look at Casey. He couldn't. He was afraid that if he did, he'd beg Casey to take it all back, to tell him this was all some sort of weird joke, that Casey wanted--_needed_\--him to stay. But if Casey was saying it--if Casey said he had to leave--if it was for his own good--then it must have been for his own good.

"You should go for lunch," he said, a while later. "Alyson'll be wanting her break soon."

Casey should tell Dan it was all a mistake. He should tell him that he didn't mean it, that even if it was true, even if it was a great opportunity, fuck it. Stay. Buy the store with him. Live in Port Bowmore, share a house with him until they're old men sitting out on the front porch talking about how Kim was still kicking everyone's ass on the curling rink. But that wasn't fair to Dan. Even if it felt like he was ripping something out of himself.

"Right," Casey murmured, standing up and collecting his coat. "Can I get you anything?"

"Coffee, if you remember," Dan said. "Otherwise I'm okay."

"I'll remember," Casey promised. He headed for the door, stopped in the entrance and turned to Dan, ready to take it all back. Instead, he bit the inside of his lip and headed out the door.

Dan swallowed hard as he looked up to watch Casey go. So that was it. Decision made. Fair enough. He reached out for the phone, dialled without really paying attention to what he was doing, and waited for Bobby to pick up.

"Bobby Bernstein."

"It's me."

"Me? Oh, it's Dan, isn't it? Hey!" Bobby could be heard smiling through the phone. "How's it going?"

"I'll take the job." Why did saying it feel like someone had just punched him in the gut?

"You will?" Bobby sounded delighted. "Dan, this is great. You won't be sorry. I've got just the store all lined up. You'll be in Halifax, to start, which just so happens to be where I'm based out of. Sound good?"

"Sounds great." Dan got up and closed the office door and leaned against it, tilting his head back, closing his eyes. "Will I see you tonight?" he asked.

"I was thinking I'd take you to dinner to celebrate. Is there anywhere here in town that you can get food that isn't battered and deep fried?"

"Yeah, one or two places," said Dan. Then he dropped his voice. "And afterwards, I need you to take me someplace and fuck me through the mattress." Make him forget everything else. Make him feel something other than the hole in his chest.

"Take you someplace? You don't want to go back to your house?" Bobby checked, voice dropping lower too. "Because I'm definitely interested."

"No, my house works," said Dan. "It definitely works. The restaurant's not far from your hotel. I'll meet you there at six?"

"I'll be waiting for you. Dan? I'm really glad you said yes. I was starting to worry you wouldn't," Bobby admitted. "You won't be sorry."

"And you'll be around, right? When I get homesick and freak out?"

Bobby couldn't imagine why anyone'd get homesick for this place, but he still answered immediately. "Of course. And you can always call me anyway... you've got my cell."

"Yeah." Dan's eyes were still closed. "So I'll see you at six?"

"At six," Bobby repeated, a huge smile on his face. "I can't wait. See you later, Dan."

"See you later, Bobby," Dan said, then lowered the phone from his ear when he heard Bobby hang up.

He was going to be sick.

*

"C'mon," Dan said, "just one drink. The food was great, but wasn't the wine terrible? One beer each--" he leaned in, and whispered in Bobby's ear, "and then you can fuck me till I scream."

Bobby groaned, tugging Dan in and giving him a kiss. "You're a terrible influence on me. But you're right--I think that was actually vinegar, not wine. One beer, and your ass is mine though," he warned him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Dan lied, and tugged Bobby into the pub, making a beeline for the bar, plopping himself down on a stool. Everybody else seemed to be here, but he was determined to pretend that they didn't exist tonight.

"Everyone's still staring at me," Bobby said, settling in next to Dan, pulling the bowl of peanuts over to them as he ordered beer for them both. "I suppose I'll have to get used to it for another day or so."

"Yeah," said Danny. "Then I'll follow you out to Halifax and people can stare at us there."

"I think in Halifax most people will have better things to do then mind their neighbours' business," Bobby said, taking his beer and clinking it against Dan's. "To opportunity. And new beginnings."

"Opportunity and new beginnings," said Dan, then leaned in to give Bobby a quick kiss before he took a sip of his beer.

He hoped Casey was watching.

Casey was watching. He shouldn't be--he was completely ignoring everyone at his table, but he couldn't help it. He stood up abruptly and dropped some money on the table, only thinking about trying to get around the crowd and head for the door.

The door opened the same time he was trying to go through it, and he nearly collided with Sally. "Casey," she said, and tried to step around him.

He looked at Sally, then reached out to gently grab her arm, stepping into her space and kissing her.

She looked very surprised by the kiss. "What was that for?" she asked, one hand coming up to adjust the collar of his shirt.

"For being an ass earlier. And the day before that. And... I think you get the picture." _And because Dan's right over there with Bobby, and he's going to leave me, and the idea of being alone scares the shit out of me._

"Well now," she said, "isn't that almost civilised of you."

"It's a start, isn't it?" he said. "I know I screwed up, but hopefully you're not too much of a lawyer to hold it against me."

"Maybe you can prove your remorse to me," she said with a half-smile.

"Buy you a drink, or something more interesting?"

"Something more interesting," she said--particularly because Natalie was watching from across the pub.

"Then let's go," he said, offering her his arm. At least he'd be home before Dan brought Bobby home. And hopefully well distracted.

This was all _wrong_. The entire world was wrong! Natalie looked around in distress, then suddenly jumped up from her chair to hurry to the bar, saying, "Dan? Danny--"

"Gotta go to the bathroom," he said, standing abruptly, and brushing past her. He couldn't talk to Natalie right now.

Natalie watched him go, and did not, at all, stomp her foot. She looked back to Jeremy, Dana, and Sam at their table. Dana did not meet her gaze. There would be punishment for that, somehow, later.

Bobby frowned when Dan got up and took off for the bathroom. His food was settling fine... maybe Dan's wasn't. He got up off his bar stool to follow after Dan and make sure he was all right.

Natalie stepped out in front of him, looking up at him with a bright smile. "Hi! You must be Bobby."

"Um... yes. Yeah, I am," he said, smiling at her, looking around her in the direction of the bathroom. "Sorry, I was just going after Dan..."

"I'm Natalie Hurley."

"That name is familiar to me somehow."

"Dan's one of my best friends. He's like a big brother to me."

"He's a great guy," Bobby said, giving her a huge smile. "I know he's really going to miss everyone."

Her smile faltered as her stomach dropped down into her adorable shoes. "What?"

"Well, Halifax isn't _that_ far. Compared to Toronto or Montreal, anyway. But it's not a day trip," Bobby said.

"What are you talking about?" Natalie asked, her voice not quite as loud and upbeat as before.

"Didn't you know? Oh, damn, did I just step in it?" Bobby winced.

"Danny's leaving?" Her voice dropped down into a whisper.

"I offered him a job... GM of a SportChek in Halifax, and he took it," Bobby said. "I'm really sorry--I thought he'd have told everyone. Or that he'd have told Casey and it'd have spread through the town--he said that... hey, you're Natalie! That Natalie, I'm guessing. He said that things that were secret didn't stay secret for long here."

She stared up at him with very wide eyes for a moment, then turned and yelled loud enough to be heard in Charlottetown: "_Dana_!"

Bobby blinked at her, then turned to flee to the bathroom. The tiny woman with the amazing shoes was scaring him.

Dana looked calm and cool as Natalie ran back to their table. "What is it, Natalie?" she asked.

"Dan's leaving," Natalie said. "Danny's leaving to go manage a SportChek in Halifax!"

"What?" Jeremy said, looking very confused. "Dan? _Dan's_ leaving? I thought he'd barely left, except to go to college, and now he's going to Halifax?"

"Dana, do something!" Natalie pleaded.

"What am I supposed to do, call his mother?"

"Yes!" Natalie's hands were curled into tight fists on the table. "And--and--Dana, he can't leave!"

"I don't think calling his mother is going to help," Jeremy supplied. "From what you told me, he didn't listen to his parents much at the best of times."

Sam took another sip of his beer, but even he looked vaguely troubled by this.

"He's in love with Casey," said Natalie.

"He's been in love with Casey since he was fifteen," Dana said, very gently.

"And Casey's in love with Dan," Natalie added.

Now, that? Made Dana blink. "Natalie--"

"He is, Dana. He's secretly in love with Dan, and Dan's not-so-secretly in love with Casey, and they're meant to be together, and we have to stop Dan from leaving." Natalie took a breath.

Jeremy looked at Natalie, and slowly edged her drink away from her, and moved it in front of Sam. It was possible that Natalie might have had enough. More than enough.

"Please, we have to stop Dan leaving," Natalie said, looking between the three of them. And then she took off and ran to the bar, and around it, and into the back, and then into Isaac's office. "You're here!" she cried.

"Am I about to wish I weren't?" Isaac said, looking suspiciously as though he already knew the answer to that.

Natalie sat down across from Isaac's desk, tugged the chair as close to it as she could get, and reached out to put her hands down on his paperwork so he couldn't carry on. "Danny's moving to Halifax to manage a SportChek and we can't let that happen."

"Is this a riddle?" Isaac said. "Or one of those things where I answer a certain way and I end up needing to chase you with a cheese grater?"

"Isaac!" One of the reasons Natalie had retreated into his office was because she was so angry, hurt, and frustrated that she was afraid she was going to cry. "Dan's leaving with that Bobby guy to go to Halifax, and be the GM of a SportChek. He's leaving us. He's leaving _Casey._"

Isaac looked at Natalie, then got up from his desk and went to close the door. "Come here," he said, stepping toward her and opening his arms.

She looked up at him for a moment, then got up and flung herself at him, arms wrapped around his middle. "Why didn't he tell me?"

He patted her back gently. "Because he knew you'd be upset," Isaac said. "And if there's anything Danny can't handle, it's hurting anyone, you know that."

"But keeping it a secret--just up and leaving--that hurts everybody too." She squeezed her eyes shut. "We need to stop him."

"We can't stop him," Isaac said, tilting her head up and starting to speak again before she could protest. "Danny was always going to leave, one more time. Before he came back home."

"How could we know that?"

"Because some people just belong here. Whether they were born here or not. And Danny's one of them. He'll be back, Natalie," Isaac promised her.

"But Casey's in love with him," she said. "He'll break Casey's heart."

"Casey doesn't know that. And you know I love Casey, right, Natalie?" he said, "but the boy needs a kick in the pants."

She gave a choked little laugh. "Can I do it? I'll do it."

He smiled at her and gave her a kiss right on the top of her head. "Everyone's always thought Dan was the one who refused to grow up. But it's always been Casey who needed to. He just hides it better."

"He's got his store," Natalie said, "and he's got his girls, and he's got his Dan, his shadow. He's happy with that, isn't he?"

"He doesn't have his store--it's still JJ's store. And he doesn't really have Danny, because Dan's with everyone but him. He's not happy. He just doesn't know why."

She took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders, and looked up at Isaac. "So he's just going to need a kick in the pants."

"He is. And most of it's going to have to be self inflicted, Natalie. I'm sorry," Isaac said.

"Casey's got to realise the truth," Natalie said. "I'll help him with that."

"Can you do it without steel toes?"

"Do I have to?"

"You know how stubborn Casey is when someone starts telling him what to do."

"We also know how stubborn I am."

*

"Damn. Dammit." Dan turned his face to rest his hot cheek against the cool pillow, gasping for breath, fingers still white-knuckled and clutching at sheets. "Damn. I think I'm dead. Am I dead? Is this what dead is like?"

"I don't know... but if it is, can I just say that I like heaven?" Bobby gasped against Dan's back, licking his lips and tasting sweat.

Dan wriggled his hips and groaned. "That was amazing."

"God, don't move, you're gonna kill me," Bobby groaned too, nipping at Dan's shoulder. "So... was that what you were looking for?"

Biting down on his lip, Dan moved his hips again. That was _nice_. Lots of residual niceness there. "Uh huh. And we'll do that some more once I move, right?"

"I think we'll be doing a lot of that a lot of the time," Bobby said, grinning at him. "It might take awhile to get to Halifax."

"They say something about absence..."

"Making you a lot hornier? Because if you're going to try and keep me all chaste in the hopes of having me fuck you like that again, I promise, it's not necessary."

"You planning on getting a lot of ass while we're apart, Bobby?" Dan asked, casually.

"I was thinking when I come back to get you," Bobby said. "Between now and then, I think I'm going to be taking a lot of cold showers."

"So'm I." Dan smiled a little. "I don't think anybody's ever fucked me like that before. I'm not going to be able to stand."

"Who says you need to any time soon?" Bobby said, wrapping around Dan. "I'm leaving soon... do you have to be in a hurry to go anywhere right now?"

Dan tilted his head back against Bobby's shoulder. "No," he said, as the volume of obscene noises in the other room got louder. He didn't cover his ears. That'd be juvenile.

Bobby eased back, ditching the condom, then rolled Dan onto his back and wrapped himself around him all over again, kissing him hard. "You couldn't have found a house where the bedrooms didn't share a wall?" he said wryly.

"We liked this house," said Dan, plaintively.

"Still..." He looked over at the wall, where he could swear the noises were getting even louder. "Putting some money into soundproofing might have been a plan."

"Hindsight's always twenty-twenty," Dan muttered, burying his face against Bobby's neck.

"If you're not hungry, I could always distract you," Bobby murmured, rocking up against Dan. Sure, they weren't in their early twenties anymore, but properly motivated....

Dan groaned and buried his hands in Bobby's hair, dragging him in for another kiss. "More of this in Halifax, right? You're not just going to set me up and dump me on my very attractive ass?"

"A lot more of this in Halifax," Bobby promised. "As good a manager as you are, I didn't come all the way to Cape Breton for a GM."

"Good."

Sally screamed.

Dan wanted to punch something.

Wow. Either she was really good, or she was trying really hard to prove a point. Either way, Bobby didn't care. He kissed Dan, then started to kiss his way down his chest.

Dan closed his eyes tight for a moment, then looked up at the ceiling. Maybe one day he'd take down the glow-in-the-dark stars. Maybe they'd still be there when he left and Casey turned his bedroom into a home office or a gym or a sauna.

That? Those noises, right there? Casey. Dan moaned faintly and ran his fingers through Bobby's hair. What he wouldn't give to make Casey sound like that, to make him get so loud he could be heard through walls. Embarrass and scandalise their deeply Catholic neighbours. _Casey._


	4. Chapter 4

"When were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know."

"That's not a good answer, Daniel."

"Since when am I 'Daniel'?"

"Since you decided to leave without telling me."

"I was going to tell you! Can I please get to my milk?" Dan looked down at Natalie in exasperation.

"I don't think you deserve one percent." Natalie reached into cooler, grabbed a carton of skim, and shoved it into Dan's basket.

Dan fished it out and handed it back to her. "I hate skim milk. Have you ever had skim milk and Honey Nut Cheerios? It's evil."

"You don't deserve one percent. It's skim or go home."

"Fine." Dan made her take the skim milk, and wandered away, milkless.

"You can't leave!" Natalie cried, chasing after him after putting the milk away. "You love Casey. You need him."

"Don't you have a store to run?" Dan asked, peevishly, grabbing some butter.

"Don't you?"

"It's Casey's store."

"Well, this is Dana and Sam's store."

Dan kept wandering away to the tiny bakery/deli on the other side of the store. "Natalie, my mind's been made up. This is what I need to do."

"You didn't tell me."

"I know I didn't, and I'm sorry."

Natalie stopped next to him and watched as he ordered some turkey from Kelly, grabbed some bread, and then made his way to the produce.

"You're really sorry you didn't tell me?"

"Yes, Natalie. I'm really sorry."

"You'll send me Halifax postcards?"

"Yes, Natalie."

"And Halifax pens?"

"You've been to Halifax at least a dozen times."

"But I don't have any Halifax pens and postcards picked out for me by you."

He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, tugged her in, and kissed the top of her head. "You're my girl," he said, "and I'll miss you."

She gave a little sniffle, hugged him back, swatted him upside the head, and proceeded to run away. Dan watched her go, shook his head, and made his way over to the pharmacy to grab a bottle of Advil. He suddenly had a headache. "Hey, Jeremy," he called.

"Hey, Dan," he said, coming out from behind his desk. "Natalie told me I was to deny you all non-essential pharmaceuticals."

"I have a really bad headache," Dan said, tossing the Advil at Jeremy. "Is this essential or non-essential?"

He looked out to see where Natalie was, then decided it was safe enough. "I think we can let it pass," he said. "You can't have any chapstick though."

Dan pulled out his wallet. "Then I shall suffer from very dry lips, my friend."

"I feel badly for you, I do, but you know about punishment," Jeremy said, ringing him through and putting everything in bags. "Dan..." He hesitated, then went on after a few moments. "Are you really sure this is what you want?"

"It's a great opportunity for me," Dan told him. "More money, responsibility, inventory that doesn't come out of my pocket... more staff..."

"I know. It's an amazing opportunity," Jeremy agreed. "But you didn't answer my question." He handed Dan his bags.

"It's what I want," said Dan, not quite looking Jeremy in the eye.

He didn't believe it for a minute. But he clapped Dan on the shoulder anyway. "If you don't send her those pens, it will end badly for me. So don't forget, okay?"

"I promise I won't forget. And I'm not leaving for a while yet--I can't move into my apartment until the first. I don't want to live in a hotel."

"Okay. And good... I'm sure Casey's glad to have you for a bit longer," Jeremy said. "It's not going to be the same without you here, Dan."

"Nothing's going to be the same, Jeremy," Dan said, and turned around. "If there isn't black forest cake at my going-away party, I'll pout."

That made Jeremy sad, in more than just a few ways. "There will be no pouting," he said, in his very best 'I decree it' voice. "Black forest cake. I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks, Jeremy," Dan said, over his shoulder, as he made his way to the front of the store, past Natalie and her accusing stare.

Well, wasn't he just the biggest jackass in the world?

*

"Dan was in this morning." Natalie was atop a ladder, arranging a cereal display.

Casey didn't want to talk about Dan. Casey didn't want to think about Dan. Casey didn't want Natalie to talk to him about Dan because that made him have to talk about Dan and think about Dan. Unfortunately, Dan no longer bought any of the things that Casey put on the grocery list, and the general store was the only place that sold them. "I know," he said, putting Honey Nut Cheerios into the basket, then taking it out again. Casey didn't eat them. Dan did. And Dan had bought some.

Natalie was quiet a moment. And then: "Oops," she said, right before a box of Rice Krispies fell on Casey's head.

"Ow! Natalie!"

"I said oops," she said, coming down the ladder and picking up the box of cereal. "So you're just going to let him march on out of town and go work for an evil corporation, huh?"

"It's SportChek, Natalie. It's not like it's Wal-mart," Casey said, rubbing his head and backing away from her. "Dan's a big boy, and I can't stop him." She didn't need to know that he'd encouraged Dan to go.

"Yes, you can."

"It's a great opportunity, Natalie," Casey said, turning and starting to work his way through the rest of the store, trying not to look like he was doing it quickly. "What kind of friend would I be if I told him to stay when this is so good for him?"

"You know what else would be good for him?"

Casey tried not to sigh. "If I ignore you, it's not going to stop you from telling me anyway, is it?"

"If you asked Dan not to go because you love him."

He dropped a jar of peanut butter on the floor. "Okay... wow. That's... I don't even know what to say to that except that whatever medication you're on, ask Jeremy for more."

"You're secretly in love with Dan."

"Seriously. More. And stop with the energy drinks. Why someone as naturally caffeinated as you would drink energy drinks is completely beyond me," he said, putting tampons in his basket for no discernible reason but that he was standing in front of the display and needed something to do with his hands.

"Who are those for?" Natalie asked. "Sally?"

"What?" Casey said, looking in his basket and shoving the box back on the display so quickly it was as though it was some kind of poisonous snake. "Who?"

"Casey, you can tell Dan to stay. He'll stay for you."

"I'm not talking about this," Casey said, moving quickly away from the feminine hygiene products. He needed toothpaste. It didn't feel right to share Dan's anymore.

"Well, you should, because in two weeks Dan'll be gone, Casey. Two weeks! He's lived here all his life, you've been best friends since you were seven, and he's _leaving_!"

"There are boxes piled up around my house, Natalie, so I'm not sure why it is that you think I don't know this."

She grabbed his arm and tugged him around. "You're secretly in love with Dan, and if you tell him, he'd stay. He's in love with you."

He stared at her for a few minutes, then turned away and started walking through the store. If he dragged her along with him, so be it. "I'm telling Jeremy to restrict your access to the internet too. It does bad things to you."

She clung to his arm and dug in her heels, but she was little enough and he was tall enough that he really did sort of just drag her along. "Dan's in love with you," she said. "He's loved you since high school, and he always will, and if you just told him the truth, he'd stay. He's yours."

"You know what?" Casey stopped, disconnected Natalie, and handed her the basket, "I don't think I really need toothpaste right now. I'll be okay."

"You need toothpaste," Natalie said, shoving the basket into his gut, "because Dan's leaving and taking his toothpaste."

"I can use baking soda and water, like the pilgrims did!" Casey pushed the basket back at her.

She shoved the basket at him. "No you can't, because it's disgusting, and you'll do it once and never again!"

"This is a ridiculous conversation!"

"You're in love with Danny! Admit it!"

"He's my best friend, and I love him, and you need to stop twisting that into something it isn't." Casey's hands were shaking, so he just set the basket down and turned to walk out. He'd manage without toothpaste. Maybe Sally had toothpaste. Which was almost as depressing as Danny leaving. Almost.

"When Danny was making out with Merlin the longshoreman at the bar the other night, you threw a dart at Elliott."

"I got distracted, and I didn't hit him," Casey said over his shoulder.

Natalie chased after him. "And a couple weeks ago--that other guy--Gary? You were doing Dana's crossword puzzle, and you broke three pencils." She paused, then added, "Three _mechanical_ pencils."

"Natalie!" Casey turned around, took a deep breath, and set his hands on her shoulders. "You're reading a lot into nothing. Okay? He's my best friend, and I'm going to miss him, but I'm happy he's got an opportunity like this. Why can't you accept that?"

"Because you freak out every time he's with another man," Natalie said.

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but Danny's got kind of crappy taste in men. And I care, because I'm his _friend_. And that's what friends _do_." _Obsess about the men their best friend sleeps with, and mutter angrily about them under their breath._

"Right, and you obsess about them and mutter about them under your breath. I've seen it. And heard it. We all love Danny, even the people you would think would be freaked out about the fact he's gay. We'd all still love you, too."

"Well, then there's something you're forgetting, Natalie," Casey said, at the door now.

She grabbed his hand with both of hers and leaned back. "What am I forgetting?"

"I'm not gay." Casey walked out and closed the door behind himself.

No way on earth was he getting the last word. She yanked the door open, ran a few feet into the parking lot, and yelled after him, "Roger Federer! David Beckham! Joe Sakic! I've got your number, McCall!"

If it wouldn't have made him look like a complete twelve year old, he'd have put his hands over his ears as he walked away.

Oh what the hell. At least then he wouldn't have to listen to her, even if the entire rest of the town would.

*

Dan slammed the near-empty milk carton down in front of Casey on the kitchen table. "There's a mouthful in here. And it's all the milk we have."

Casey looked at the milk carton. "You were just at the store, Dan. You bought cereal, but you didn't buy milk?"

"There was lots of milk when I left. You were just at the store. Why didn't _you_ buy milk?"

"Because I didn't buy anything," Casey said.

Dan threw his hands into the air, then went back to the fridge. Fine, he'd have juice.

"Natalie was being Natalie, and it was just easier not to," Casey said. "I'll go back when she's on shift at the pub." At least Jeremy let him buy things these days.

"What, you're afraid of Natalie now?"

"She dropped a box of cereal on my head, so... yeah."

"A box of cereal."

"It's Natalie. It was what was in her hand at the time. I'm just glad she wasn't rearranging cans of soup."

"And why did she drop cereal on your head?"

_Because she wants me to stop you from leaving._ "Because... look, it doesn't matter. Do you want me to go get milk?"

"No, it's too late. I'm fine with my juice."

"Fine," Casey said, going quiet for a few moments. "When's Rob coming back?"

"Bobby? He left this morning. He's gone to St John's for a few days."

"Disrupting more small town lives by picking up ex-flings and tempting them to Halifax?"

"Yes, Casey. I'm going to be part of his SportChek harem."

Casey stood up and pushed his chair back. "I've got work to do."

"Dammit, Casey, when did you turn into such a raging bitch?" Dan demanded.

"Forgive me for being busy trying to find someone I can trust to back me up in the store who isn't already working another two jobs, or who doesn't have Olympic drinking as their full time career," Casey snapped. "It's taking up a bit of my time during the day, and it means I've got work to do now. So, I'm sorry, but is it all right with you if I go work on the stock order for tomorrow so I can get it in before noon, Dan?"

_Ask me to stay. I'll stay. I promise I'll stay._ "Fine," Dan said, taking a step back. "You just--go do that."

_Don't go. Please, please, don't go. Say you'll stay. I'll take it all back._ Casey didn't say anything, just turned around and walked back to the den, closing the door behind him. He didn't have the energy to slam it.

Dan followed him. He stood on the other side of the closed door, and put his hand against it, then his forehead, and stood like that for a long moment. He had packing to do. A few e-mails to respond to. But he was frozen there, stuck in time, drawn endlessly to the one man in the world he wanted more than anything, and couldn't have. Time was running out--and Casey just wouldn't ask. Casey was never going to ask.

He stood straight, looked at the door, and took a step back. There were always walls and doors between them. There always would be. He swallowed hard, eyes closed, then turned away and headed for his bedroom. He sat down amid piles of years worth of accumulated crap, wondered if there should be melancholy Sarah McLachlan music playing as he thumbed through a photo album--lingering on the picture of him an Casey at their high school grad--before packing it away.

A couple hours later, he climbed wearily into bed, tugged the blankets up to his chin, curled on his side. Casey was probably right there. Just on the other side of the wall, not thinking about him, not thinking about barging into his room and begging him to stay.

Casey McCall wasn't worth tears.

At least, not more than a few.

*

"I said no presents," Dan said, quietly, to Isaac. "Why are there presents?"

Isaac just smiled at him and patted Dan on the back. "Because they love you enough to ignore you, Danny."

"This makes it harder," Dan muttered.

"I know, son. You know what I'd do?"

"Tell me."

"Suck it up." Isaac gave him a rough kiss on the cheek, another pat on the back, and went to pour drinks. Some things never changed.

"Dammit," Dan muttered, and sighed, and took a deep breath to head off to join everyone else.

Natalie got up, grabbed his hand, and dragged him closer to the tables they'd pushed together. "Come on," she said, "we can't start on cake without you."

"Casey's not here yet," Dan said, a note of desperation and distress in his voice.

Natalie and Dana exchanged significant glances, but didn't say anything.

"He's coming, isn't he?"

"Hey, you!" Bobby's arms slipped around Dan's neck, before he gave him a kiss on the cheek. "The kid behind the bar... Jeremy? He just made me possibly the best rum and coke I've ever had. He started babbling on about proper ratios, and something to do with the carbonation that made absolutely no sense, but the drink was amazing."

"Yeah, he's good at what he does," Dan said, smiling, lifting his hands to Bobby's arms.

Natalie looked at Bobby with some measure of hostility, then plunked herself down in a chair next to Dana.

Bobby looked at Natalie a bit nervously, keeping Dan between himself and her. Natalie kind of frightened him. "Want me to get you anything?"

"No, no," Dan said, "I'm fine." He laced his fingers with Bobby's under the table.

"So," Dana said, "when are you heading off in the morning?"

"Pretty early," Bobby said. "I've got to work day after tomorrow, so we need to get on the road as soon as possible."

"We're leaving at the ass-crack of dawn, apparently," Dan said, pulling a face.

"Poor Dan... something tells me you've never been a morning person," Bobby teased.

"Never. I was always happy to work closing shifts."

Monica brought over a plate of nachos, gave Dan a wounded look, then spun around and headed back for the kitchen.

"Dan? Why is the blond girl angry with you?"

Dan sighed. "Because I'm leaving."

"Does anyone ever leave this town?" Bobby murmured to him.

"They do, but apparently I'm not allowed."

"That's kind of sweet, actually," Bobby said. "Although it makes a lot more sense now why I'm being treated like the Big Bad Wolf or some other nursery rhyme equivalent."

"Isaac!" Dan suddenly cried. "Here comes Isaac, with drinks, because he loves us."

Isaac looked at Dan as though he might be slightly wrong in the head, but he handed out beer anyway, giving Bobby another rum and coke. "From Jeremy." Jeremy'd also tried to talk Isaac into guessing the relative length of Bobby's index finger and thumb, but Isaac just had to raise an eyebrow and Jeremy started babbling about something else altogether.

"Tell Jeremy to get his butt over here and join us," Dan added. "He's missed."

"He's making something special for you," Isaac said, grinning at Dan. "He'll be right over."

Dan sighed. "You're joining us, though, aren't you?

"It's your last night here, Danny. Don't you think it would be a shame if I didn't join in and tell a few embarrassing stories about you?" Isaac said.

"Oh... I think that sounds like a lot of fun," Bobby said, grinning at Dan.

Dan looked a bit shifty. "You don't have embarrassing stories."

Isaac smiled, slow and dangerous. "Oh, Danny. I think we know that's not true."

"Isaac, you wouldn't do that to me in front of my new boyfriend, would you?" Dan asked.

Natalie choked on her drink. Dana glanced at Sam, patted Natalie on the back, and gave her some water. It was going to be a long night.

"I think that's exactly what you're supposed to do in front of new boyfriends, Danny," Isaac said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go hustle Jeremy's butt out from behind my bar."

"I like him," Bobby said, watching Isaac go.

"So do we," said Dana.

"So... Halifax, huh?" It was the first time Sam'd spoken up in quite some time.

"Yeah," said Dan, looking a little startled. "Halifax. Haven't been since university."

"That's because you hate Halifax."

Dan shifted uncomfortably. "Only a little."

"You hate Halifax?" Bobby said.

Sam held up a hand to silence Bobby. "Something you should know, Robert. May I call you Robert?" he asked, then kept going without waiting for an answer. "We're a small town. Some seven hundred people, I'd guess, and we'll be minus one of them come tomorrow. Now, seven hundred people doesn't sound like much to most. But seven hundred people all out for your balls?" He smiled dangerously. "Now that's something that's a little more impressive. Just something to think about," he said sweetly. "Dana, honey, can I get you something from the bar?" he asked, standing up.

Bobby just blinked a few times, looking rather shell-shocked.

"Just a beer," Dana told him, smiling up at him. She was so hot for him right now it was kind of ridiculous.

"Right back," Sam said, passing behind Natalie and giving her a firm squeeze on the shoulder as he headed for the bar.

"He's scary sometimes," Dan said.

"Uh huh," Dana said. She smiled as she reached for a handful of nuts.

Bobby threw back his entire rum and coke in one long gulp.

Dan reached for the glass, pushed it aside, then handed Bobby his water. "You're officially cut off now," he murmured. "You're the one with the car."

"Then please tell your fellow townspeople to stop making me feel as though I should be sleeping with a baseball bat under my pillow?"

"Okay, everybody," Dan said loudly, "we're making Bobby feel like he needs to sleep with a baseball bat under his pillow, and that's not conducive to me getting laid."

"You know that was a rhetorical statement expressed in a moment of terror, right?" Bobby said.

"Okay, do I want to know what prompted that?" Jeremy said, taking a seat next to Natalie. "Because just before I left to come over here, Sam was ... I don't want to say giggling, but he was definitely giggling, and also I think I heard the word 'pussy'."

Dana smiled wickedly at Jeremy. "Maybe he was talking about me and what's happening after the party."

"Agh!" Dan covered his ears.

"You _just_ made an announcement to the entire bar about how they were stopping you from getting laid, and now you're squeamish?" Jeremy said.

"Dana and Natalie are like the sisters I never had, and I don't want to hear or know anything about them having sex," Dan said, primly.

"I thought Natalie was on the list of women you'd sleep with," Jeremy said.

Bobby turned very slowly to look at Dan, and blinked at him.

"Yes," said Dan, "but that's _me_. Not other men." He paused. "Look, it makes perfect sense inside my head."

"Your head is a very strange place, Dan Rydell," Bobby said.

"You weren't here for the last round of charades," Jeremy murmured.

"It was _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_! How was that hard?" Dan demanded.

"It was the amount of time you spent on 'buffing' motions that caused the wheels to fall off the wagon," Jeremy insisted.

"I think you're just not very good at charades," Dan said, lifting his chin.

"Natalie? Defend my honour, please."

"You couldn't get Julius Caesar, either," she pointed out.

"Okay, if there ever was an et tu, Brute moment!"

She kissed his cheek. "It's okay. You always kick ass at Celebrities."

"Yes. Yes I do," Jeremy said proudly.

"I don't know what Celebrities is," Bobby admitted. He also couldn't remember the last time he played charades, but he was pretty sure he was in high school or younger.

"You put the names of a bunch of famous people into a hat," Dan said, "after dividing into teams. One person pulls out a name, and has to give clues to the person's identity, but can't say the name of that person. That's for the rest of the team to figure out."

"And Jeremy kicks ass at it?" Bobby said.

"Yes. Yes I do," Jeremy repeated. "But not as much as Isaac."

"Nobody ever kicks as much ass as Isaac," said Dan, and then he stood up, leaned over the table, and kissed the end of Isaac's nose. He retreated, laughing, before anybody could hit him.

"Did Danny just kiss me?"

"Why are you asking me, every one else is sitting here too!" Jeremy said, since Isaac was staring at him.

"Because I did, Jeremy, now answer the question."

"Yes, yes, Dan just kissed you."

Isaac was silent for a few moments, long ones, then smiled. "I think I'm flattered."

Dan beamed. "You should be," he said. "Hot young thing like me? Damn right it's flattering."

Bobby laughed too, leaning slightly on Dan's shoulder, and taking his hand again.

"I was going to say that I think I'm the real catch though," Isaac added. "And that you'd better watch out for Esther, young man."

Dan laughed. "Yes, sir," he said, "I'll sleep with one eye open. Now that we've all seen the hottest action this side of the Atlantic, where's my cake?"

*

Natalie was folding her napkin into a paper plane. "Casey's still not here," she said.

"Didn't he say he'd be here?" Jeremy said, clearing up the remains of the black forest cake and watching the dart game. Dana was kicking everyone's butt, as usual. Some things never changed, even when things were about to.

Natalie nodded. "He told me he'd come, yeah," she said. "And here it is... almost midnight, and he's not here, and he's not responding to my texts, either."

"Maybe..." Jeremy trailed off. "No. I've got nothing. I'm sorry."

She sighed. "He's standing us up," she said. "He's not going to show, and it'll break Danny's heart."

"Have you seen Dan and Casey in the same room in the past two weeks?" Jeremy asked.

"No," she said, looking at the table.

"Maybe they just need some time to get used to things. I don't know, Natalie," Jeremy admitted. "To be honest? I didn't think Dan'd really do it."

"Neither did I," she said, watching as across the pub, Dan wrapped his arms around Bobby's neck and kissed him as a reward for getting a bulls-eye. "But on the other hand, when he's with Bobby, I... I..."

"Yeah?" Jeremy murmured, sitting next to Natalie and taking her hand.

"I think he seems happy."

"I think he is too," Jeremy had to admit. "And I know you'd like if it Bobby was secretly an evil mastermind, but... I think he's kind of a nice guy. I'm sorry, but it's true."

"I know, and that makes it all so much worse," Natalie complained.

"I know," Jeremy said, giving her hand a tighter squeeze. "Maybe... maybe Casey and Dan aren't meant for each other after all," he said hesitantly. "If they were, wouldn't Casey be here?"

"Are you telling me I'm wrong?"

"I wouldn't dare."

"Good. Because I'm not wrong."

"Okay then."

"Good." She rested her head on his shoulder. "Jeremy?"

"Yes, Natalie?"

"Tell me everything's gonna be okay."

He kissed her temple. "Everything's going to be okay, Natalie."

"Good." She looked up when she felt someone else's hand on her shoulder, and there was Dan. She smiled up at him. "Hey," she said.

"Hey. Bobby and I are gonna take off," Dan said.

"Oh," she said, "but--it's not even midnight."

"Early day, Natalie. Ass-crack of dawn."

"Right." She bit her lip.

"Hey," said Dan, "hey, don't start any of that. I'll be here again before you know it." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, then tugged her into a hug.

Her hands closed into fists at the back of his shirt. "Love you, Danny," she said.

"Love you too, Natalie."

Jeremy stood up and looked at Dan and Natalie, just a pace or two off to the side. Everything felt wrong. But if Dan was happy, shouldn't it feel right? And yet...

"Jeremy," Dan said, looking at him. It was as if Jeremy knew. He reached out for his hand, then tugged him into a hug. "I've got to go," he said.

"I know," Jeremy murmured to Dan. "We'll take care of him, Dan. I promise."

"I know you will," he said, and pulled away. Dana, Sam, and Isaac were all waiting by the door--he'd already said goodnight to them, and everyone else, and Dan steeled himself to rejoin Bobby, take his hand, and head to the door.

For a moment, he wondered if anyone else knew this his goodnight was actually goodbye. But then he looked at Dana, and saw the tears in her eyes that she was trying to fight, and for a moment, one wild moment, he didn't think he could go through with this. Then he leaned in, and pulled her into a hug, and said, "You start, I'll start."

"I know," she said, hugging him tight. "So I won't if you won't."

"Deal."

Bobby hung back, giving Dan the time he needed. It'd been a long time since he'd left home, and he couldn't quite remember what it felt like. He knew that it hadn't been a whole community seeing him off though. A whole community who would apparently do unpleasant things to his private parts if he hurt Dan. Good thing he wasn't planning on it.

Dan gave Isaac a hug, holding onto him for a moment, then said, "Thank you," in a choked voice.

"Come back soon, Danny. Bring your friend. You'll always have a home here, son," Isaac told him, squeezing his shoulders.

"I know," he said, and cleared his throat, then turned to Sam. "I think I'm honour-bound to remind you that I've known Dana all my life and if you don't keep treating her well, I'll have someone else do terrible things to you."

Sam smiled at Dan, and for once, it was a slightly less evil smile than usual. "Good luck finding someone. Since I doubt you'll be successful, I'll just have to keep treating Dana well."

Dan held out his hand to Sam, quietly, with a little smile of his own.

Sam shook his hand, just a little harder than necessary, but not as hard as he would have if he didn't like Dan an awful lot.

"Well," said Dan, stepping back and taking Bobby's hand again. "Tomorrow morning, huh?" He gave a lopsided smile, then just headed out the door. He couldn't look at Dana. He couldn't bear to think that she knew he was a big fat liar.

"Tomorrow morning," Bobby said, smiling at everyone, then following Dan out the door. "I don't even want to know how much coffee it's going to take to get you going at the time I'm wanting to leave."

"Can we go now?" Dan asked.

"Huh?" Bobby wasn't expecting that. "It's after midnight, Dan."

"Just get to another town, and we can check into a motel, and--I just can't face them in the morning."

"What about..." _Casey._ Bobby couldn't make himself ask the question, not when his name had been so carefully avoided all night. "We can go, if you're sure that's what you want," he said gently. "You're sure?"

"I've got my bags in your trunk."

"Okay," Bobby said, moving in front of Dan and kissing him, slowly. "Then let's go."


	5. Chapter 5

Dana hung up the phone. "Dan and Bobby never went home last night. They took off right after the party."

Jeremy sighed. Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised. "I haven't seen Casey since the day before yesterday," he supplied.

Dana lifted herself up onto the counter, feet swinging, her hands holding on to the counter so tight her knuckles turned white. "I thought he was going to do that."

"Dan? You knew he was going to leave?"

She nodded. "I've known him since before I could talk. So."

"So," Jeremy echoed. "I don't think Natalie saw it coming. And I don't know what she's going to do to Casey except that _he's_ not going to see it coming."

Dana looked up and over to where Natalie was fussing with merchandise at the cash registers. "She's being very calm so far."

"She's cleaned that counter and reorganised those items three times now."

"As I said, very calm."

Suddenly, a pack of gum flew by and hit the window.

"Like the eye of a hurricane."

"I'm going for coffee!" Natalie declared, then stomped to the door and out.

"I'm glad she left before I did something stupid like mention that additional sugar or caffeine is probably a bad idea," Jeremy announced.

Natalie jaywalked across the street, got honked at a few times, and set herself down on the curb outside of Casey's store. She could wait. She'd wait all day. She pulled out her phone, contemplated sending Danny a text, didn't know what to say, sent one to Jeremy to apologise for throwing the gum, and then resumed waiting. When Alyson unlocked the doors, she was a little surprised to find Natalie outside, and then told her that Casey was in his office, but that she really didn't think he wanted company. Natalie didn't care. She stomped back to the office, opened the door, and stood there and glared. She looked for all the world like a very little thundercloud.

Casey didn't look up. It wasn't like he hadn't been expecting Natalie to show up. And probably yell, or throw things at him. He didn't say anything either, staring at the same piece of paper he'd been reading for the last half an hour or so. Not that he was seeing it.

Natalie picked up a notepad from the other desk. Dan's desk. She ripped off the top sheet, put the pad down, crumpled the paper, then lobbed it off of Casey's head.

He sighed, lifted his head, and looked at her. "Hi."

"You're wearing glasses," she said.

Casey looked down again. "I know."

"You only wear glasses when your eyes are so irritated you can't put your contacts in."

"Natalie..."

"You don't suffer from hayfever," she carried on doggedly, "so it's not allergies."

"Can we please just not do this?" he murmured, pushing his glasses up and rubbing at his eyes.

"Why are your eyes irritated, Casey?"

"Because I am," he said, back to focusing on his piece of paper again. With his red, irritated, glasses-corrected eyes.

"Then why are _you_ irritated, and if you say it's me, I'll throw more paper at you."

He looked right at her, took his glasses off so he could rub at his eyes again, then put them on. "Natalie, I really don't feel like this right now. Do you think it's at all possible that you could yell at me later?"

"No," she said, "I'm going to do it right now."

"Fine. Yell at me. Let it out, if it'll make you feel better." Casey looked tired, and sad, and hurt. And very red-eyed.

"You didn't come to the party last night."

"No. I didn't."

"Dan noticed."

"Dan has barely spoken to me in the past week, Natalie, so I'm not really sure you're right about that."

"He noticed. And you stayed at home. You cried."

Casey didn't say anything. Not even to deny it.

"Casey." Natalie turned and closed the door, then sat up on his desk. "I'm sorry."

He laughed quietly, and it wasn't happy laughter. Sad. Slightly bitter and self-deprecating. "Why are you sorry?"

"That I didn't help sooner."

"There's nothing to help, Natalie." Casey tossed his glasses onto his desk and lifted his head. "I told Dan to go." It never occurred to Casey that he'd barely called him 'Danny' since he'd made the decision to leave.

"You told him to go?" she echoed in horror.

"He wanted to go. He... he told me what Bobby'd offered, told me how great it was, how it'd be more money, how he could find me someone to work in the store... it was what he wanted. He wanted _Bobby_. So I told him to go."

"Casey, he wants you, and he thinks you're straight, so what was he supposed to do? Spend his whole life with his one-night-stands, wishing it was you?"

"I'm not gay."

"There's middle ground between gay and straight, Casey."

He avoided her eyes. Sometimes she was a little too good.

"That's what I thought. I mean, come on. Roger Federer. David Beckham. Joe Sakic."

"Everyone's a little bit attracted to David Beckham," Casey protested. "It's like a rule."

"I don't think Isaac is."

"You know what I mean."

"You're trying to tell me that just because you jerk off thinking about David Beckham, doesn't mean you're actually attracted to men?"

"How do you--I _don't_!" Casey insisted, blushing wildly. "Natalie!"

"You're blushing."

"You're talking about... someone should wash your mind out with soap!"

"You're secretly in love with Dan."

He let out a loud huff and reached for his glasses again. "Even if you were right, and I'm not saying you are, it doesn't matter."

"Why doesn't it matter?"

Casey practically exploded out of his chair. "Because he deserves a lot better than a guy who can't figure out if he's straight, bi, or just abnormally attracted to male sports stars, okay? Because he deserves better than me!"

Natalie bounced up off the desk and launched herself at him, arms tight around him. "That's not true!"

"Yes it is," Casey said, closing his eyes tightly and fighting the urge to peel Natalie off of him and go hide in the tiny staff bathroom until Alyson threatened to kill him if he didn't come out.

"No, it's not! Dan's known you this long--since you were little kids--you don't think he knows you? You don't think he knows everything about you, except for the fact that you're secretly in love with him?"

"Stop saying that I'm secretly in love with Dan, Natalie," Casey pleaded.

"Not until you admit it."

He shook his head.

"Why? It's true, Casey. Isn't it? You're in love with him. You're angry that he's left, and you're angry that you told him to do it, and I don't know why you think you're such a terrible person that you don't deserve to be happy with Danny."

"Because. And he's found the person he's supposed to be with, and he's happy. You've seen him with Bobby. I've _heard_ him with Bobby," Casey said, sounding bitter again. "He's what Dan needs."

"Casey, I want to tell you something I told Jeremy last night. I told him that Dan seems happy with Bobby."

Casey flinched without realising he'd done it. "See?" he said quietly.

"But I never got the chance to qualify that statement," she continued. "There's a difference between 'seems' and 'is'."

He sighed. "Now you're being semantical."

"No, I'm not. Dan _seems_ happy, but he isn't. He's settling."

"That's not fair, Natalie. Bobby's a good guy, and he's crazy about Dan. Anyone can see that." Even if it was cutting him up to say that out loud.

"Yeah, he is crazy about Dan, and I can't blame him for that, and neither can you. And he's not the one Dan needs. He needs you."

Casey just shook his head and looked away, his throat feeling tight. He couldn't believe it. Because if it was true, he'd made the biggest mistake of his life, and he couldn't fix it. Dan was gone. "It's too late, Natalie. In case you didn't notice, he left last night."

"You're in love with Dan, aren't you, Casey?"

It was a long, long time before Casey nodded. Just once, but he nodded.

Natalie reached out and squeezed his hand. "Kind of hard, after all this time, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he said, voice very hoarse.

"Will you let me help you fix this?"

"He's gone, Natalie. I'm not sure how you think this is fixable," Casey said, sounding despondent.

"Well, it requires enough patience to wait for Danny to send me my first postcard, and it requires you to trust me enough to run your store for you while you're gone."

"Is this going to end up like an episode of MacGuyver? Am I going to be sent into the wilds of Nova Scotia with nothing but a postcard and a pack of matches and some gum?"

"I might send you with beer, too."

"I don't remember that from the show."

"It's our own very special episode."

Casey tried to laugh, couldn't, and settled for trying to smile.

"Dan's yours, Casey," she said, giving him another hug. "We'll fix this. Trust me."

"I do trust you." Casey just wasn't sure that he hadn't screwed this one up to the point where it couldn't be fixed.

"Good. So we'll wait for Danny."

"But... Danny left, Natalie."

"But he's going to send me a postcard with his address."

"Oh. Right. Have you got this all figured out?"

"Yes. I do. Once we have his address, Jeremy will mapquest it to give you directions, and you can rent a car on JJ's dime, and you can go to Halifax and sweep Daniel Rydell off his feet."

"That's the plan?"

"That's the plan."

"Okay." Casey didn't say anything for a few moments. "He has a boyfriend, Natalie. The first real boyfriend he's had in years."

"He likes you better."

"How did you know?"

"I can tell these things."

"And how did you know that I was... well. That I was... what you said. About him. And me."

"Women have special powers." She smiled. "You can't just show up and see what happens. You have to be honest with him."

"Are you sure about this special powers thing? Because mostly I've just noticed that women frighten me."

"Women frighten you," she said, slowly, "and yet you thought you were completely straight?"

"I never said I was completely straight," Casey protested. "Just that I wasn't gay."

"Oh, Casey."

"Also, you've never had Sally in your bedroom."

"Thank God for that."

"Yeah... not really sure why I mentioned her at all," Casey admitted. "I don't know what I've been doing."

"Casey, there's something I need to tell you."

"You know whenever you say that I get nervous, right?"

"Okay, there are two things I need to tell you. The first is that you were with Sally because you were trying to assert your heterosexuality by sleeping with the scariest woman in town," Natalie said. "Second, that there were two reasons Danny broke it off with Gordon a couple years ago. The first reason was because of that whole thing Gordon had where, 'Oh, I'm not gay, I just like fucking guys, but nobody can know that I like that, so we have to sneak around'."

"Okay, your first point... is really embarrassing, but might have merit," Casey admitted, then frowned. "Gordon was a jackass, Natalie. Dan deserved better than him, and we all knew it. I was glad when Danny broke up with him and not just because of what you think."

"Dan broke up with Gordon because he found out that Gordon had slept with Sally. While they were on one of their 'off-again' phases."

Casey stared at Natalie, then took a step back and stared some more. "How do you know that?"

"Dan told me."

"He never told me that," Casey said, voice numb. "Damn it, Natalie, I've been sleeping with Sally on and off for how long now, and no one ever bothered to tell me that she was who Gordon was cheating on Dan with?"

"I'm the only one who knew," Natalie said. "I'm the only one he ever told."

"We share a _wall_!" Or they did. Before Casey told Dan to leave. "He's had to listen to that for over a month--no wonder he didn't fight me on leaving!"

"I'm sorry, Casey."

"It's not your fault," he sighed, dropping into his chair again. "I wish he'd told me. That someone had. And I thought I couldn't feel like a bigger asshole."

"Sometimes you're an asshole pretty spectacularly," Natalie said and sat on his desk again. "Then again, sometimes Dan is too. You know what, a whole bunch of us are kind of assholish when we want to be."

"I've really screwed this one up, Natalie. What if it's not fixable?"

"You have to be able to say those three magic little words to Dan."

Casey looked down at his desk again. "What if he doesn't believe me?"

She was quiet a moment, then said, "Just kiss him, Casey. Like you mean it."

He watched Natalie for a few moments, then tugged her in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I hope Jeremy knows how lucky he is."

"I tell him every day," she replied with a smile.

"I'm sure he appreciates that."

"I think he does."

"Well, he might be getting a gesture of appreciation from me, for taking such good care of you. Unless this all goes spectacularly wrong, and then I'm going to have to move somewhere even more remote, and I'm not sure that exists," Casey said.

"Probably in the Yukon."

"That's a long, long way away."

"And there might be polar bears."

"I don't think I would do well around polar bears," Casey said solemnly. "Worse than prison. You can't barter with cigarettes."

She kissed his forehead. "We'll get our boy back, Casey, and you can have lots of noisy sex in your little house."

He groaned. "Is that really something you have to speculate on?"

"Yes."

"_Why_?"

She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Because it'd be _hot_. Have you seen the two of you recently? Oh my God, I would line up the night before to watch you guys make out."

Casey stared at her, aghast. "_Natalie_!"

"What?"

"You--I--he--I think I'm scarred for life!"

"Oh you are not. You'd watch me and Dana, wouldn't you? Admit it." She poked him in the shoulder.

"I admit _nothing_!" At least in part because Sam would kill him.

She laughed and threw her arms around his neck. "I love you, Casey. And I want you to be happy. And if you hurt Danny again no one will ever find your body."

"Do I get any points for trying to do what was best for him?" Casey murmured, hugging her back. "Even if I blew it?"

"Not so much. And Casey?"

"Yeah, Natalie?"

"You really are going to have to tell him."

"I know." Which was part of the reason why Casey was scared shitless.

"It won't be as hard as you think."

"I'm not sure you're right about that," Casey said.

"Why's that?"

"Because I told him to leave. And he did. With Bobby."

"Then you're just going to have to grovel, aren't you?"

"I guess I am," Casey said, squaring his shoulders and looking determined. And scared shitless.

"And you'll have some time. You know Danny'll procrastinate a bit in getting me that postcard. I'd say you've got a couple weeks."

Great. A couple weeks to obsess about how Danny was having a lot of loud, obnoxious sex with sexy Bobby. "Right. Is that penance?"

"I'd imagine so. You get to think about all the sex he's having with sexy Bobby."

"Thanks, Natalie. That's making me feel a lot better."

She patted his shoulder. "I thought it would."

Casey sighed. This was going to be the longest, most stressful, and most unbearable two weeks of his life.

*

This had been the longest, most stressful, most unbearable two weeks of Dan's life. How had he not anticipated the stupid uniform, and the stupid lanyard, and the stupid girls at customer service who couldn't speak clearly into the intercom system to save their lives, and the staff fridge in the back that looked like it hadn't been cleaned out in roughly five thousand years, and--everything?

He hated Halifax. And he hated SportChek. And, dammit, he hated Casey McCall's guts for telling him to go. He wouldn't be here if it weren't for Casey. His best friend of forever, and Dan hated him.

But he hated Howard, his ASM, more than he'd hated anyone else in the entire world. Howard liked Dan. He wanted to make him happy. He was helpful and efficient and eager to please and had worked for SportChek for two years and been made employee of the month sixteen times and Dan wanted to shove Howard's head in a filing cabinet.

"You look like you had a _long_ day," said the voice coming from behind Dan.

Dan looked up from making the schedule and smiled at Bobby. "Hey," he said.

"Wow. Make that a _really_ long day," Bobby said, very sympathetic. "How about dinner, on me?" He held up a bag and grinned. "Even brought you a change of clothes."

"Aren't you a godsend," said Dan. He stood, closed the office door, and gave Bobby a little kiss. "How are you?"

"Mmm... not nearly as tired as you are, by the looks of things," Bobby said. "There's a Keg a few blocks down from here--is that close enough? I'm betting you're getting tired of food court food."

"If I visit New York Fries again, I think I might puke. It's so good but..." Dan shook his head, dragged off his polo shirt, and pulled out the blue button-up Bobby had brought him.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I worked in this store for awhile, when they were between managers, the time before you," Bobby explained. "I overindulged. The shorts just aren't that forgiving."

"No, they're not." Dan looked rueful. "I've already gained weight. Between the training seminar and now working in the store, I could be in a lot of trouble."

"We'll just have to find a way to work it off then," Bobby said, smiling and tugging Dan in for another kiss. "Was that horribly cliche? I think it was horribly cliche, but either way, I think it's a good idea."

"It was horribly cliche, but probably a good idea," Dan said, and then pulled away to change out of his long, khaki shorts, and into the pants. "So. The Keg, huh?"

"I won't make you eat the baked potato if you'd rather escape the carbs."

"That's just mean."

"Or we could just have more sex," Bobby offered.

"There we go," said Dan, not quite looking at him as he shoved his uniform in his bag, and put his wallet, phone, and keys into his pockets.

"Much better," Bobby said, gesturing for Dan to lead off.

Dan led the way out of the office, locked the door behind him, then guided him out through the store and past Howard--who gave a "good night!" so cheerful it set Dan's teeth on edge--and into the mall. "I've also discovered," he said, "that the HMV is extremely dangerous for me, too."

"Uh oh. Is their television series sale proving problematic?" Bobby teased.

Dan heaved a great sigh. "You have no idea."

"You're going to need a raise just to support your habit."

Dan snorted. "Yeah, it's looking that way."

"Well, this meal's on me, so you don't have to worry about hocking a kidney," Bobby promised, leading the way to his car.

"Don't I feel lucky." Dan hesitated at the passenger side of Bobby's car.

Bobby unlocked the doors, and started to climb inside. "You coming?"

"Oh," said Dan, "right. Yeah." He climbed into the car, and looked out the window as Bobby started to drive out of the parking lot.

The drive to the Keg was quiet, at least as far as conversation was concerned. Bobby kept changing stations, singing quietly along to the radio before pulling into the restaurant parking lot.

Dan glanced at him, and made sure to grab the bag with his uniform in it, feeling a bit like a dork carrying it into the restaurant. They had a few minutes' wait for a table, and Dan pulled out his phone, saw that he had a few texts from Dana, and then replaced his phone in his pocket. "I'm sorry," he said, "did I remember to ask you what kind of day you had?" God, he was tired.

"It's okay," Bobby said, smiling at Dan. "You had the thousand yard stare when I showed up. My day was fine. Slow, even. It's going to get busy soon though... we always get a lot of staffing turnover this time of the year, and that means big decisions get made."

Dan nodded. "Right. I've already had six interviews for part-timers, and I'm only just starting to get to know everyone's names."

"That's still pretty good for two weeks," Bobby said. "It's a big store, Dan--you'll get the hang of it in no time, I'm sure."

"Yeah," said Dan. They followed the host through the restaurant--he was cute, really cute, and ridiculously young, and when had Dan started chasing twinks?--and were seated in a quiet little booth.

"Much better than New York Fries," Bobby said, ordering a pint of beer and sighing as he leaned back against his side of the booth.

Dan ordered a beer, too, though he was tempted by the chocolate martini, and then sat back, too, looking across at Bobby wordlessly.

"You really do look tired," Bobby said. "I don't mean to keep saying that, but is dinner too much tonight? I could take you home, order a pizza, if that's better," he offered, looking around for the server.

"I don't think I can see you anymore," Dan said.

Bobby turned back to look at Dan and laughed. "What, have you forgotten who I am again?" he said, smiling at him.

Dan didn't laugh, and he didn't smile. He spoke in a monotone. "I think you're falling in love with me. I can't give you what you want."

The smile slid off Bobby's face. "Dan... Danny, this isn't funny," he said quietly. He never called him Danny.

"I know it's not. Bobby, I can't love you back. I like you a lot. But I can't love you."

Bobby didn't speak for a long time, and when he did, his voice sounded like he was trying not to cry. "You mind telling me why not?"

"Because I've been in love with the same man since I was a teenager, and I'm never going to fall out of love with him, even though I hate his guts. It's not fair for me to do this to you. You deserve someone who can love you, not just like you."

"Casey. It is Casey, right?"

Dan closed his eyes for a moment as he nodded, and then looked at Bobby again. "I wish I could do better by you. But I don't think I can."

Bobby couldn't keep looking at Dan, turning his head away, damp eyes giving him away. "You deserve someone who can love you too, Dan. You know that, right? But you can't let me give you that, can you?"

"It all belongs to him," said Dan, looking down at his hands on the table. "Everything. So maybe I don't deserve that."

Bobby leaned back in his chair, still looking away from Dan. "And there's nothing I can do to change your mind? To give us a chance?" He tried to keep his voice steady, but damn it all, he could hear his voice getting hoarse the more he spoke.

"I don't want to hurt you," Dan said. "If I try to keep this up, I'm going to hurt you."

Bobby nodded, throat tight as he reached for his wallet, hesitated, then left enough on the table to cover their drinks. He cleared his throat. "The job offer was legitimate, Dan. It wasn't just so I could get into your pants. You're a good manager, and you'll do well. I won't... this won't change how I work with you," he said, taking a deep breath. "I kind of want to punch Casey right now, but he's not here, so why don't I just give you a ride home."

Dan looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "All right. Thank you, Bobby. For everything. And I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

Bobby held up his hand. "If you apologise right now, I'm either going to embarrass myself by crying in the middle of the restaurant, or begging you not to break up with me, so... maybe you should not do that."

Dan nodded again, then rose to his feet. "Yeah. Okay. Then we should go."

"Okay," Bobby said, standing as well, then stepping forward and giving Dan an impromptu hug, eyes closing as he inhaled deeply, lips just barely brushing Dan's neck before he pulled away just as abruptly, turning and heading for the parking lot.

Dan followed behind him, head down, like a kicked puppy. Why couldn't he make this work? Why couldn't he make this real?

_Damn you, Casey. This is all your fault._

*

Dan was stuck in Halifax, in a job he hated, and sitting on the couch in front of _Firefly_, eating ice cream out of the container. His life was pathetic in remarkable ways. Which meant this was as good a time as any for the doorbell to ring. He sighed heavily, put the ice cream down on the coffee table, and got to his feet. He opened the door without looking through the peephole, then froze where he was, hand still on the doorknob.

"I heard your footsteps coming, but I wasn't sure you'd open the door."

"Fuck you, Casey." Dan closed the door. Then he opened it again. "Fuck you so hard."

Okay. Casey was pretty sure he deserved that. "Does that mean I can't come in?" he said, trying to smile and failing miserably. He was still holding the postcard Dan'd sent Natalie.

Dan turned around and stomped into his tiny, tiny house.

Casey sighed and followed him inside, closing and locking the door behind himself. He supposed he deserved that too.

Dan sat down on the couch, crossed his arms and legs, and stared at Casey.

He followed Danny over and sat down on the chair across from the couch, hands resting on his knees as he leaned in closer to Dan. "I'm sorry."

"I fucking hate Halifax," Dan said.

"I know," Casey said softly. "I remember college."

"I broke up with Bobby."

"You broke up with Bobby?" And that gave Casey hope, and then made him feel like he was possibly the lowest bottom feeding jerk on the face of the planet.

"Yeah, because I was stringing him along, and it made me a jackass. I don't _like_ being a jackass, even when I am a jackass."

"Danny... you could never be as big a jackass as I've been a jackass."

"No, I don't think I could, you jackass."

"Yeah, fair enough," Casey admitted, trying to figure out what to say, and how to say it. Like he hadn't been practicing it the whole way here. "Danny, come home."

"Why?" Dan demanded.

"Because the town isn't the same without you. Because Natalie's dropping things on my head, and Sam just glowers when he sees me, and Jeremy's denying me bandaids and epsom salts. Because Isaac misses you, and Monica's worried about you, and Alyson's tried to fire me three times since you left and she works for me." He took a deep breath. "But most of all, come home because I want you to. I need you to. Because I love you."

Dan stared at him for a long moment, then abruptly got up and grabbed the ice cream container to take it to the kitchen. "You forgot about Dana," he called back to Casey, sounding annoyed.

"Dana's the one secretly handing Natalie the things to throw at me," Casey said, getting up to follow Dan, shoving down a bit of panic. "Kim claims that she's going to lose every match she plays without you there to cheer her on. Elliott's thinking about going kosher to distract himself; Chris, Will, and Dave are having to find creative ways to keep Kim from hitting on every new person who comes through town because she's trying to find a new 'you' and she can't find a new 'you' because you're the only 'you', so she ends up scaring them off," he finishes. "And? Because I love you."

"Elliott's never been kosher," Dan said, from inside the freezer. His freezer was messy. He needed to fix that before he could put the ice cream back. Casey was here. Why was Casey here? Why did he keep saying he loved Dan? He was so full of shit it was coming out his ears.

"Yeah, well, that's where the 'going' part comes in," Casey said. He came over and took the ice cream from Dan, moved three things in the freezer, then put the ice cream away and closed the freezer door. "Also, I ended things with Sally. Or I would have, if she hadn't unceremoniously dumped me on my ass about thirty seconds before I was going to break up with her. Want to know why she did it?" he asked, then kept going without Dan being able to interrupt. "Because she thinks that I'm in love with you. You know what else? She's right."

"Stop it," Dan said, voice choked, as he took a step back and bumped into the counter. "Stop saying it, because you don't mean it."

"I didn't come to your going away party at Isaac's, even though I said I was going to come. Do you know why?" Casey said, moving to stand in front of Dan, one hand on either side of his waist, against the counter. "I'll tell you, even though it's embarrassing and not really all that manly. Because I was crying. Because I couldn't stop crying. And because I knew if I left the house, even if I could stop crying about you going away, everyone would know. Especially you. And that you might stay, and I couldn't let myself guilt you into that."

Dan's chest rose and fell rapidly as he stared up at Casey, eyes very wide. "Don't do this to me," he said. "I can't--you can't--Casey."

"Roger Federer. David Beckham. Joe Sakic."

"I hate your living, breathing guts," Dan whispered.

"I know," Casey said. "I know, Danny. And however much you hate me, it's nothing compared to how much I hate myself right now."

"Fuck you. You broke my heart."

God, that hurt. And he deserved it. All of it. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Danny. I just wanted you to be happy, and you..."

"You told me to leave. You wanted me to go away." Dan's voice cracked. "I fucking hate you so much."

"I wanted you to be happy. I thought you'd be happy with Bobby. And I thought... I thought you deserved better than me." He laughed bitterly--it wasn't funny, but it was true. "I'm too old to not know what I want... too old to be a frickin' virgin. Too old to be laying all of that on my best friend, because what if I lost you? And then I lost you anyway."

Dan stared at him, still breathing hard and fast, his hands up near Casey's on the counter, gripping its edge, white-knuckled. "You--I--a virgin?"

Casey lifted his hands, sighed, and let them fall back to the counter again. "Yeah. Yeah, you could say... yeah."

"You're not a virgin, Casey," Dan said. "You've had sex before. That makes you not a virgin."

"Okay, technically you're right, but if we're being literal, and we're talking about... it's just... okay, I think you know what I mean, Danny."

Dan stared up at him some more. Suddenly he surged forward, both hands moving to Casey's head, holding him still as he kissed him hard and desperate and demanding. It was over just as quickly as it had started and Dan leaned back against the counter again, hardly daring to breathe.

Casey stared back at him, eyes wide as he gasped for breath and stood right where he was, frozen in place for a solid few seconds. Right up until he took that one step he needed to be close enough to pin Dan to the counter, his hand pushing into Dan's hair, Casey's turn to kiss him this time, needy and breathless and moaning--fucking _moaning_ into Dan's mouth.

Dan closed his eyes and lifted his arms, wrapped them around Casey's shoulders, and moaned in echo of Casey. This couldn't be real. He'd imagined it so many times, and he was in a sugar coma, and it was a dream. All just a dream. But Casey tasted real, felt real, smelled real--right there, pushed against him, lips against lips, and his tongue--yes--_Casey_.

"Danny." It was only right then with his lips against Dan's, tasting him, whispering his name against them, that Casey realised that he'd never expected Danny to open the door. Never thought he'd listen, never thought he'd let Casey get this close to him. And maybe when the kiss was over, Dan was going to push him away and shove him out the door. But right then, in that moment, Casey also realised that he was never, _ever_ going to let Dan go. Not even if he spent the rest of his life on his knees convincing Dan to let him stay.

"Don't you dare move," Dan whispered, clutching him tight. "Don't you fucking go anywhere, or--" Or he'd break. "Just stay right here." If either of them let go, Dan was sure he'd start shaking and never be able to stop.

"I won't go," Casey promised, his own arms wrapped around Dan. "I promise, I won't go," he whispered, kissing Dan again, slower, taking his time. Tasting him. "I'm so sorry, Danny. Fuck, I'm so sorry."

"I love you, Casey." Dan spoke, very softly, against his lips. "What took you so fucking long?"

"I love you," Casey said first. Because that was the most important part. "And because for a smart guy, I can be a complete idiot."

Dan looked at him a moment, gave a crooked little smile, then jumped up to sit on the counter. He put his legs around Casey's back, and drew him closer, his hands coming up to touch Casey's hair, his face, his mouth, as he looked down at him quietly. He couldn't stop touching him. He couldn't stop watching him. He was afraid if he lost contact, even for a moment, Casey would turn to smoke and disappear.

Casey smiled a little bit at Dan, letting Dan pull him up against the counter, leaning into every touch of his hand, kissing his fingertips as they passed by his mouth. "I'm not going anywhere," he repeated softly.

"Do you really want me to come home?" Dan asked. "I will. For you. I'll quit that fucking job so fast and come home."

"I want you to come home," Casey said immediately. "I want it for me, and I want it for you, because what the fuck was I thinking, telling you that working at a SportChek was the right decision to make. For anyone else, yes. But not for you. You belong in our tiny little town with our strange people that we all love."

Dan ran his fingers through Casey's hair again. "I'm renting this place on a month-to-month basis," he said. "Most of my stuff is actually in storage back in Port Bowmore. I just--I couldn't--this place isn't right."

"Really? _Really_?" This time, Casey beamed up at him. "I know I shouldn't ask it, even though you asked me, but Danny, come home, please?"

Dan nodded. "I'll come home," he said. "Even if it's just to hear you calling me 'Danny' again."

"Danny," Casey said immediately, leaning up and going for another kiss. It was different, kissing a guy, and maybe it should be weird, but it wasn't. Nothing was weird, because it was Dan. His Dan. His Danny. "I'll call you Danny for breakfast, lunch, supper, and dessert if you want."

Dan needed to be closer again. He slipped carefully off the counter and pulled Casey into another long kiss; learning him, tasting him, every bit of him. He held on like he was afraid Casey would disappear again, arched up to him, kissed him again and again until he had to pull back, gasping for breath. "Casey."

"I should never have let you go. I won't do it again, I promise, I won't do it again," Casey gasped, closing his eyes, leaning his head against Dan's shoulder. "Just forgive me for it this one time, and I promise, it won't happen again."

Dan brushed his lips against Casey's ear. "I forgive you," he said.

And over a month's worth of tension rolled off of Casey's shoulders with those three words. He'd be lucky if he didn't break down and cry right there in Dan's kitchen. "Thank you... thank you," he whispered.

"Come with me," Dan said, firmly, and he squirmed his way out of Casey's arms. He took Casey's hand, and dragged him over to the couch, and settled in against him, pulling Casey's arms around him again. He closed his eyes. Familiar. They'd done this before. "For a guy who insisted he was straight," Dan said, "you sure spent an awful lot of time cuddling your gay best friend."

"I never said I was straight," Casey murmured, wrapping his arms more tightly around Dan's body. "Just that I wasn't gay."

Dan lifted his hand to reach back and run his fingers a little awkwardly through Casey's hair. "When I broke up with Bobby, he knew it was because of you."

"I should feel a lot worse about that than I do," Casey said, and he's not kidding either. "I disliked him so much and all he did to earn it was fall for you. Something I can't blame him for."

"I do feel kind of like a bastard that I couldn't give him what he wanted," Dan admitted. "But nobody else is you."

"Something else I feel like kind of a bad person about," Casey said. "But you're here. And I didn't have to fight him for you, which I was pretty much expecting to have to do."

"I could call him up, and fill a kiddie pool with jell-o," Dan offered.

"Something tells me I'd end up with my ass soundly kicked and a face full of jello."

"You think you couldn't take him?"

"In general? No. In the battle for the hand of Dan Rydell? Bet your ass," Casey decided, revising his earlier statement.

Dan leaned his head against Casey's shoulder. "And you'd better."

"Do I have to fight? Is that what it'll take? Because I will do whatever it takes. I know I've been slow getting here, and that Natalie had to kick my ass and beat me with breakfast cereal, but I'm here for real, Danny."

"No, you're not going to have to beat him up in a tub of jell-o," Dan told him. "But you've kind of got a whole hell of a lot of proving-to-me to do."

"I know. And I know I don't know anything... much. About... you know. Being with a guy. And I know I haven't given you any reason to trust me, but I really didn't know what was going on in my own head," Casey said. "I'd never jerk you around on purpose."

"First, I've got a whole lot of experience being with a guy, so I think it's safe to say I can help you on that one. Second, you did jerk me around, but I don't believe you did it on purpose. Maliciously. So I will forgive you for that."

"I'm glad you're not worried about that part, even if I'm kind of worried about making an idiot of myself, and that... really makes me feel like maybe I can make it up to you. That you believe that I didn't try to hurt you. Even when I did, it was because I thought I was doing the right thing," Casey sighed.

"Well, the first thing we're doing, is not having sex till we get home," Dan said.

Well, now, that surprised Casey. "We're not?" His mind started racing, imagining everything he could have possibly done wrong, aside from the obvious. From how things were in the kitchen, he would have guessed that Dan wanted to have sex with him rather soon.

"Don't get me wrong. I want to have sex with you. I want to have a lot of really loud sex with you." Dan found Casey's hand, played with his fingers a little bit, then squirmed around to look at him. "But it'll take a few days again to quit the job, get everything packed up and arranged for me to head back to Port Bowmore, and then the five-hour drive home. So... if you still want this by the time we get home--to our own bed--then I think that'll say something. Right? Also, consider it punishment."

A few _days_? Casey groaned, and had to keep reminding himself that he earned this. "Right. Punishment. Right. Am I going to have to leave and go back to the hotel room I rented?"

"Not on your life."

"Thank God," Casey sighed. "I wasn't sure I could get you to see me, and I needed somewhere to shower between sleeping on your front porch and begging you to talk to me."

"So it's not exactly the best hotel in Halifax, huh?"

"It's the closest one to your apartment. And it's not strictly an hotel as an 'ote'," Casey said. "The first and last letters are burned out on the sign."

"I would never make you go back to a crappy ote," Dan told him with a grin. And then he settled back against Casey, closed his eyes again, and made himself relax when he fell quiet. He needed all that tension to drain out of his body.

Casey went quiet for a long time as well, his fingers sliding against Dan's back. "Danny? Do the managers of SportChek's have to wear uniforms too?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Dan muttered.

"I am so, _so_ sorry, and I will make it up to you in whatever manner you see fit."

"Hey, remember that chicken dish you made? With the sauce, and the pineapple, and all the vegetables? Months ago. After we had that really successful friends and family sale day."

"I'm going to be making it every week for the foreseeable future?"

"Yes." Dan smiled. "Casey?"

"Yeah, Danny?"

"Pull the blanket down from the back of the couch, and turn off the lamp."

Casey reached up behind him and draped the blanket over both of them, clicking off the lamp as soon as he's got it settled properly, then curling up with Dan again. "Better?"

"Perfect," Dan said. "And if you move before morning, you'll have a very grumpy man on your hands."

"Then I will remain still, as I know what you're like when you're grumpy." Plus? Casey didn't have any inclination to move at all.

"You're also going to be making breakfast," Dan said.

"French toast or pancakes?"

"Pancakes, please."

"I just hope you've got everything I need in your kitchen, or I'm going to have to risk your displeasure by running to the store," Casey said.

"If there isn't, you'll be making French toast."

"I will find a way," Casey vowed. "Breakfast for Danny."

Dan made a happy little noise, and fell very still. A few minutes later, he was fast asleep.

Casey took a lot longer before he was able to do the same. For one, his cock was pressing against his zipper in an entirely uncomfortable way... but more importantly, he just couldn't shake the feeling that if he closed his eyes, he might lose all of this. And he couldn't lose Danny again.


	6. Chapter 6

The blanket was on the floor but Dan wasn't cold because Casey was a furnace. His very own personal furnace, even through the clothes he'd worn when they fell asleep. They'd both probably regret sleeping on the couch like this later--they certainly weren't twenty anymore--but Dan didn't trust the possibility of having Casey horizontal in bed with him. They had to wait. It would only be a few days before they were home.

But Casey was warm. Ridiculously warm. Dan wasn't fully awake yet, and somehow in sleep they'd both moved enough that Dan's face was very close to Casey's neck, and Casey smelled good, and it was just so easy to move his lips against Casey's skin.

Casey was having a dream. He was trapped in some kind of box, and it was very uncomfortable, and there was barely room for him to extend his arms out to the side or above his head. It kept shrinking in on him, because he was too old to grow any more, and the tighter it got, the more scared he was, and the harder he tried to push against the walls. And then the sides just fell away, and there was Danny, and there was obviously some kind of metaphor there, but it didn't explain why he was sitting on the floor or why there was a German Shepherd licking at his neck... wait. Neither of them had a German Shepherd. He opened his eyes, just a little, and sighed. _Danny_.

Dan wrapped his arms tighter around Casey, wriggling until he was pressed hip-to-hip with him, and pressed kisses over his neck. He felt too good to be real, but here he was. What was Dan doing, telling Casey they had to wait? That wasn't just punishment for Casey--it was punishment for both of them, and maybe it was stupid. Really stupid. At least he hadn't said they couldn't get it on for six months or something ridiculous like that, but still--waiting? What was he thinking?

"Casey," he whispered, rocking his hips very slowly and deliberately.

Casey murmured something that didn't really sound like a word, but definitely sounded very pleased with what was going on. Talk about nice ways to wake up... and he'd always said he wasn't a fan of morning sex... or morning shenanigans. Whichever this was.

Dan licked around the shell of Casey's ear, smiled, and said, "When we get home, I'm going to make you feel so good you're never going to want to get out of bed. You know that, right?"

"Have I mentioned that I am really, _really_ looking forward to getting home?" Casey murmured back, certain parts of him a lot more awake than others.

"I'm looking forward to getting your dick in my mouth." Dan's face felt a little warm. He wasn't sure he was allowed to actually talk to Casey like this. But then, if that was the case, who made up a dumb rule like that?

Was Dan allowed to say things like that? Casey wasn't entirely sure he was... and yet he really, really didn't want Dan to stop. "I... so am I, especially now that you mentioned it," he said, his voice sounding strained.

"You have no idea how much I want to suck you off." Dan's voice was so quiet that if he hadn't been speaking right next to Casey's ear, it was possible Casey wouldn't be able to hear him. And it was better that way, really, because it meant maybe Casey couldn't see all the colour rising to his face. "Or how much I want to shove you down, climb on top of you, and..." He swallowed hard and rocked his hips forward again. _Yes._

_Oh. My. God._ "Danny, you're killing me," Casey whispered desperately, rocking back to meet Dan, his hips moving automatically, because if he didn't move, he was going to _die_.

"You have no idea how many times I've thought about you fucking me," Dan said all in one breath. He slipped one hand under Casey's head, the other going up to clutch at cushion under them. "I might die if you ever found out how many times I've jerked myself off thinking about your dick inside me."

Casey felt the hair rise up along his arms, along the back of his neck, shivering as Dan kept whispering in his ear. "You want that? Me... me inside you?" He couldn't say it--couldn't even imagine it, except yes, yes he was, and now he was in serious danger of coming in his pants.

Dan swallowed hard, and nodded, but remembered that they weren't looking at each other. His lips moved against Casey's ear, but he couldn't form words just yet. He reached down, found Casey's hand, and moved it to his ass. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then whispered, "I want you to fuck me. I want you so damned much, Casey. I want you to _fuck_ me, so hard you make me scream."

Casey's hand pressed in hard against Danny's ass, lips parting with a completely dirty and porn-star influenced moan. "Dan... Dan, Danny, I can't... oh God, I want you so fucking badly," he whispered, hoarse and desperate and so close to coming he could barely stand it.

With a soft moan, Dan shoved his hips back against Casey's hand, then forward again, feeling his cock against Casey's even if they were separated by a few layers of fabric. Goddamn, Casey felt so good. "You'll get to fuck me when we get home." He licked Casey's neck. "And you're not going to be able to stop thinking about my ass till then. I promise." Okay, so maybe he was slightly evil.

Dan's promise probably meant more of this. More talking, more listening to Dan whisper dirty, dirty things in his ear. Casey might not survive to make it home. As it was, Dan had finished him off for the present. One last hard rock of his hips and he let out a yell, cock rubbing right against Dan's through his pants as he came.

Dan smiled even as he gasped, shifted, pressed himself against Casey's thigh and rocked against him not unlike a frantic teenager. He lifted his head and stared down at him, saying his name over and over.

"Danny... Dan, yes, c'mon, yes," Casey gasped, staring up at his face and dear _God_, why didn't they do this when they were teenagers and Casey could get it up again in no time because just from looking at Dan's face right now, he wanted to come.

Casey's hand. Dan was painfully aware of Casey's hand. It was big and warm and there, right there--and so was he. Just a little more--a little--and suddenly it was all too much. Dan groaned as he came, too. In his boxers, up against Casey's thigh. Later, he'd have to wonder why the hell he never jumped Casey when they were seventeen.

Casey wasn't usually one for enjoying being messy or sticky, but right now, oh, right now, he just couldn't care less about that part because he was pretty sure he'd never felt better. He reserved the right to revise his opinion once they got back home though.

Dan slumped against Casey, head on his shoulder, panting and spent and feeling heavy and happy. "Casey."

He groaned and wrapped both arms around Dan's body, slipping his hands down to his ass again as soon as he had. "You're... wow. You're wow."

Dan groaned and wriggled, then fell still again. "I like your hands," he mumbled.

"My hands?" Casey smiled. "I like that you like an individual part of me. Or parts, I suppose is more accurate."

"Hands feel good," Dan added.

"Touching you felt good."

"You made me come in my shorts."

"Me too. I mean, you made me," Casey said. "And you have other shorts."

"You didn't seriously just bring one set of clothes with you, did you?"

*

Dan hung up the phone and and turned to Casey. "Natalie wants to know how many times we've had sex."

"Did you ask her how many times we've had sex in her brain?" Casey asked. Because right now they hadn't had sex nearly enough times for Casey... since the number was zero.

"She thinks we must have surely had sex at least twice by now," Dan said, "and at that point I had to change the topic."

"Well, that's in Natalie-world. Did you tell her that in Dan-world, there is a plan?" A plan which might have been killing Casey just a little bit.

"Actually, I did," Dan said. "She thinks the plan is stupid."

"She does, does she? And I suppose she's had Jeremy, Dana, and Sam weigh in on your plan?"

"Yeah." Dan leaned against the wall. "They think I'm punishing you."

"Aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, what's their problem with the plan?" Casey asked.

"That I'm also punishing me by not having sex."

"Well... that's kind of an unavoidable byproduct of the plan, isn't it? I could try and talk you out of it, but considering that I'm currently being punished, I have a feeling that would be a mistake on my part."

"It probably would," Dan said. "I just don't want my first time with you to be in this hell-hole."

"And I don't want my first time... first time to be here either," Casey said. "I didn't like Halifax the last time I was here."

"Why didn't we follow Dana to Ontario for university?"

"Because we went on that school... thing to the University of Western Ontario, and a Western girl scared you so badly you refused to ever enter the province again."

"Oh. Right. Yeah, she was scary. She was wearing socks with her sandals."

"Which is just wrong on so many levels," Casey said. "Then there was the girl who climbed into your sleeping bag and didn't take gay for an answer."

"God! Don't remind me!"

"You asked why we didn't go to Ontario for university!"

"You need to learn when I have obviously lost my mind."

"I'm working on this! I really am," Casey promised. "I'm just... really bad at it in some respects."

"All right," said Dan, and sat down next to Casey, pressed up against his side. "I just unpacked all of this. And look. Boxes again."

"Remember how I was writing up an announcement for the paper saying that I needed a roommate?" Casey said, leaning against Dan. "I never sent it in. I couldn't send it in."

"Good," said Dan. "I'd hate to have to beat someone up."

"You'd beat someone up?" Casey asked, smiling at that.

"Over you? You bet."

"I don't actually want to see that, but you know what? It feels kind of good that you'd do that," Casey said.

"So we can leave tomorrow," Dan said, after a pause.

He looked at Dan and smiled. "Tomorrow? We can go home tomorrow?"

Dan nodded. "Yeah. Tomorrow."

"Thank God. I think I'm getting Halifax hives." Casey sighed. "Did you have any trouble leaving the job?" he asked, after hesitating about asking for a few moments.

"They gave me a hard time, but I stood my ground."

"Hey," Casey reached over and took Dan's hand, shifting so he can look at his face. "I really am sorry. I know I've said it, but I'm saying it again. Even if what I wanted was for you to be happy... I'm still sorry."

"I know, Casey," said Dan, looking down at their hands. "I know you're sorry."

"It was stupid. I was stupid. Everything about it and me was stupid."

"Yes, it was."

"But you love me anyway?"

"I love you anyway."

"Then I'm going to try really, really hard to never be stupid like that again," Casey said.

"I'd appreciate that."

"Do you have an idea yet how long I'm going to be punished? In ways other than what we're punishing each other right now?" he asked.

"Until we get home. So, until tomorrow night."

"Anything else I can do to make anything up between now and then?" Casey asked.

"You can cook dinner."

"I can?" Casey grinned at that. "Well, breakfast went over well, so I like this plan."

"I could get used to you cooking for me," said Dan with a big, big grin.

"I thought you said I was only being punished until tomorrow night!" Casey protested. "Or is me cooking for you sexy in some way?"

"You have no idea how sexy it is," Dan said. "I get to sit back at the table and watch your ass."

"Seriously? You watch my ass when I'm cooking?"

"It's a nice ass."

"Hey, if you like it, I'm happy." Very happy, apparently, judging by the way Casey grinned.

Dan leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "I like it a lot. I'm sure you don't like mine nearly as much."

"You just haven't caught me staring."

"I guess that would be hard, since my back would be to you." Dan leaned in again, pressed a kiss to the corner of Casey's mouth, then his cheek, then just below his ear. "Casey?"

"Mmmm?" Casey was starting to lose his mind again. Dan's mouth was good for that. "Uh huh?"

Dan licked Casey's ear and slipped an arm around his shoulders. "I want to blow you," he whispered.

If Casey'd been standing, he was pretty sure he'd have fallen down. As it was, he nearly fell off the couch. "I... oh. Yes? Yes."

"You probably wouldn't want that, though, would you? Having me down there... on my knees... you couldn't possibly like it." Okay, so Dan kind of liked being evil sometimes. Maybe he should grow a goatee.

Casey made a soft, desperate sort of sound, not really sure how to answer that question without saying 'duh'. And Casey just wasn't the kind of guy who could get away with a 'duh'. Natalie? Now she could say 'duh'. Probably not surprising that Casey'd been thinking about the word 'duh' for the last ten seconds or so, considering that his brain was rapidly devolving to nothing but white noise. "Killing me. Killing me, killing me, killing me, Danny," he said, ever so plaintive.

"I shouldn't make you wait. That'd be mean."

"Mean. Very mean. Except... no, not mean. You're not mean. Punishment. It was punishment, and I deserved it, but if you think I should get a reprieve, well, that's just... really, I couldn't stop you. Wouldn't stop you. If you... shutting up now."

Dan pulled back, then slipped off the couch and onto the floor between Casey's legs. He looked up at him with a naughty little grin, then reached up and started to open his pants. "Not gonna stop me?"

"I think if I stopped you, the next thing I'd have to do would be commit myself to the nearest hospital because I'd be insane to stop you."

"From what I understand, you probably would. Of course, I'm not flexible enough to have first-hand experience..." Dan reached up and tugged down Casey's pants and boxers, finally getting a good look at him. He licked his lip.

"From what you understand?" Casey repeated, not really sure what it was Dan meant. At least... he didn't think he knew what he meant, because... did he... well... flexible... _oh_.

Dan licked his lip again as he reached up to curl his fingers around Casey's cock, stroking him slowly, and smiling when he could feel him start to respond. "From what I've been told."

"Oh... I... well... sometimes people weren't exactly quiet, and I wondered," Casey said faintly.

"Yeah," said Dan, "'people' tend to get kind of noisy when I start... working."

Casey whimpered. Yes. Whimpered. He was so dead.

"Do you want my mouth, Casey?" This punishment thing was kind of fun.

"Yes, please... I kind of really would." As evidenced by his rapidly hardening dick, thank you.

"Say it." Dan gave him just a taste--or rather took a taste, flicking his tongue out, barely--_barely_\--touching the tip to Casey's cock.

Oh God, oh _fuck_! "I want your mouth," Casey said, all as one word, more or less.

Dan smiled and slowly--slowly--lowered his mouth down over Casey's cock. How many times had he imagined doing this? How many times had he done this to another man, and imagined it was Casey? _Yes._ Finally.

Casey'd never dared. Never been able to get over the fact that it was a woman doing it enough to pretend it was Dan. Not even with Sally, who was unreasonably tall, but also unreasonably... well, Sally. Hard to mistake her as anything but female. And as soon as Dan's mouth was actually on his cock--and oh God in heaven how long had he waited for this?--Casey wasn't thinking about anyone but Dan. Or much of anything at all.

Dan lifted his eyes to look up into Casey's face as he started to work over his dick. He moaned, just a quiet little noise, as he moved both hands up to Casey's hips, and held him very still. Only one of them could be in control here.

And right now? Casey was conceding the floor to Dan. Dan knew what he was doing, Dan wasn't the one being punished, and then there was that thing with Casey's brain turning to white noise. Dan was better off being in charge than Casey. He looked into Dan's eyes and made another one of those whimpering noises that he'd be embarrassed about later, trying to lift his hips and completely unable to move.

Dan pushed him down, held him there, took Casey's cock as deep into his mouth as he could. Casey's pleasure was important here, sure, but Dan was taking what he wanted. And what he wanted were those sounds that Casey was making. He wanted to hear him. He wanted to make him come undone.

There might have been a few moments there where Casey'd tried for some kind of polite decorum, but Dan's mouth was beyond the point of being able to be polite. Or sane. His hands gripped at the edge of the couch, lips parted constantly as he gasped and panted for air between moans. Dan was going to kill him. It was possibly the sweetest punishment he'd ever had.

Dan would have to do this again, and again, and again, because he was pretty sure there wasn't anything on this earth sweeter than the way Casey was reacting to him right now. He let go of one of Casey's hips and pushed his hand slowly up under his shirt, touching soft, warm skin--and he moaned again around Casey's dick as his eyes slipped closed.

"Dan... Danny..." Casey moaned out his name, lashes fluttering closed as well, as much as he wanted to watch Dan doing this. He couldn't--he just couldn't do it anymore and have any shreds of sanity remain. "Danny... Danny, Danny, I--" was as far as he got before he couldn't hold off any longer, head jerking back against the couch as he came, gasping for breath and murmuring Dan's name one more time.

Dan swallowed, eagerly, and licked his lips when he sat back on his heels. He was breathing heavily, staring up at Casey, and desperately hard. He couldn't keep still. "Casey," he said, very softly.

"Danny... God, Danny, that was... you were..." Casey ran out of words, then leaned down and pushed his hand into Dan's hair, kissing him hard. So what if he could taste himself on Danny's lips, and that was a little weird. It was worth it.

Dan leaned up into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Casey's shoulders as he moaned. "Casey," he whispered, "Casey. I want you so much."

"I want you too," Casey whispered back, still breathing hard. "I don't even technically know what I'm missing yet, and I want it so badly, Danny."

Dan crawled up onto the couch, onto Casey's lap, and kissed him again. As he touched his tongue to Casey's lips, he opened his pants with shaking hands. "I want you to touch me. Will you touch me?"

"I don't think I can even begin to explain to you just how much I want that," Casey whispered to him, moving his hand to the front of Dan's pants and gently moving his hands away. He hesitated for a moment, looking into Dan's eyes. "Is... is it really stupid that I feel like I don't know what to do?"

Dan shoved his pants down his hips. "I can help you. I'll show you what I like."

"That might possibly be the sexiest thing I've ever heard since you saying you wanted to blow me."

Dan took hold of Casey's wrist as he smiled down at him. "It seemed kind of sexy from this end, too."

"Yeah? Because... right now everything you do is sexy to me. I mean everything," Casey said. "Doing that squishy thing you do to an almost empty toothpaste tube? That would be sexy."

Dan laughed as he guided Casey's hand to his dick. "Sometimes I think you're distinctly odd," he said, with a hitch in his voice.

"Sometimes I think you're right." Casey wrapped his fingers around Dan's cock, eyes flickering from watching what he was doing to watching Dan's face. "Wow... I mean...no... I think wow's okay," he decided, smiling at him, tightening his grip some.

Dan's eyes closed as he sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Wow's... yeah." He swallowed hard and then looked at Casey again. "More."

"More... anything," Casey promised. If Dan wanted him to go get the moon, well, he'd just have to track down a really big net.

Lips parted on a little moan, Dan closed his own hand around Casey's and guided him. "Like this," he gasped out. "I like... this."

Casey looked serious for a few moments, like he was putting to memory some kind of difficult puzzle, then smiled when he got the rhythm and pace right. "Like that?" he checked, watching Dan's face.

Dan closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and moaned. "Yes," he said, "yes--Casey." He moved his free hand up, carded his fingers through Casey's hair, and then cupped the back of his head in his hand. "Yes."

"I've wanted to see you like this for so long, Danny," Casey whispered.

"Liar," Dan said, breathless, laughing.

Casey shook his head. "I didn't know what it was, not exactly, but I'm not lying," he said softly. "I used to hear you. I couldn't help it. And I couldn't ignore it... couldn't stop listening. And I'd imagine what you must look like, and then I'd tell myself I was crazy for imagining it, and... I still couldn't stop. I think I told myself I was just nosy."

"Oh--my God--" Dan groaned and held Casey's hand tighter, urging him to move faster. "I'd listen to you. Imagine--I--Casey--fuck!" He squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered, hard, the right down his spine.

"Imagine what?" Casey's hand moved faster, just like Dan wanted, wishing like hell he could get hard again. Apparently this was going to be a recurring theme with Danny. "Imagine what, Danny?"

Oh, come _on_. Like he could talk now! "Imagined you... fucking me." It was Dan's turn to whimper, a few embarrassing, desperate little noises escaping past his lips before he came, almost collapsing onto Casey a moment later.

Fucking Dan. Seriously--if his dick could only get hard right then. Not that he could fuck him; Danny'd been clear about the waiting for home part. But still... it would be nice. Casey's hand slowed, then stopped, and he slipped his clean hand around Dan's back, pressing in against his skin. "Danny... that was just... everything I always wanted to see."

Dan groaned against Casey's shoulder, turned his head, and kissed his neck. "Unh," he said.

Casey smiled. So, apparently, he hadn't done that badly. He moved his hand away, and went to wipe it on his pants, then dared to bring it up to his mouth and lick at one of his fingers.

Dan heard it. He lifted his head and watched, transfixed and wide-eyed.

He hadn't been planning to do much more than taste, but when he saw the look on Dan's face... suddenly doing more than that felt like a good idea. Casey drew two of his fingers into his mouth and sucked hard, the taste kind of ... strange, and yet not, and yet definitely strange. But it turned Dan on, and if he could get used to eating broccoli and learn to like it, this won't be that hard to acquire.

Dan's voice was very strained when he spoke. "Damn. You're... there you are."

Casey smiled at him, slipping his thumb into his mouth and making kind of an appallingly loud sound as he sucked it clean, then let his hand drop. "Hi."

"Fuck."

"That's a good 'fuck' right?"

"Yes."

"Good," Casey said, smiling at him. "'Cause it wasn't that bad, and I think if I do it more, I'll like it even more. Especially since you liked it."

"Damn." Dan was boneless and heavy and he couldn't really move. "Casey. Wow. Yeah." All right, he's been reduced to monosyllables. Back to the neck-nuzzling. He wasn't embarrassing himself when he was doing that.

And for once (so far), Casey didn't feel like he was completely clueless about everything. If he could make Dan forget how to say polysyllabic words? There was hope for him yet.

*

Casually, ever-so-casually, Dan reached out and put his hand on Casey's thigh. But he didn't say anything; he stared ahead out the windshield with a little smile.

Casey was gonna die. Dan'd been doing this the entire drive... gentle little touches, fingers sliding up along the inside of his thigh. And judging by his expression? He wasn't doing anything at all. Seriously--Casey really was going to die. Or kill Dan, whichever came first. "Halfway there."

"Yep," said Dan, his hand inching up a little higher. "Halfway there."

"Little farther than halfway, don't you think?" Casey muttered, taking a deep breath.

"Uh huh." Dan smiled. "I think we'll want to eat out. If we don't eat dinner first, we won't eat until sometime tomorrow, because when we get home you're going to fuck me."

If he wasn't driving, Casey'd be closing his eyes right now to collect himself. "Eat out. You want to go home, and go eat at Isaac's pub, before we've... that? You really think we'll ever get out of there again, now that you're home?"

"I'm sure we will. Natalie's going to want to send us home for lots of very loud, dirty, sticky, sweaty sex. Of course she'll also want details later, so she'll only get half of her wish."

"How many times has she called now?" Yes--Casey was going to focus on that part. It was far less embarrassing, and less problematic for his dick. He should have worn sweatpants.

"I've lost count." Dan squeezed Casey's thigh. "I'll suck you off first. Not until you come, of course, because that'll sort of ruin all the fun I intend for us to have when you've got your dick up my ass."

"Danny!" Casey had to swerve when he started edging into the oncoming lane. "Oh my God, I'm gonna get us both killed."

"That wouldn't be a good idea. You won't get laid if you're dead."

"Yes, so my mother always taught me."

"She did?"

"No. That would be very disturbing if she had," Casey said.

"Like if she told you that you have shapely calves."

"I should never have told you that."

"Probably not. Though they are."

"The last time you heard that, you wouldn't stop staring at my calves for days," Casey remembered. "I thought it was trauma."

"No, it was realising your mother was right."

"Let's not call her and tell her, okay?"

"They're going to find out about us sooner or later."

"I didn't mean that," Casey said. "You can phone her right now and tell her that... but I don't need the two of you debating my calves together."

"You think your parents are going to be okay with this?"

"I think they'd better learn, if they aren't." Casey sounded braver than he actually was, but he still meant it.

Dan fell quiet again for a while, leaning his head back. Then he said, "I wonder if my mother's going to want you to convert."

"Convert?" Casey repeated, then turned to look at Dan. And not the road. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. She might insist."

"Which would involve... what, exactly?"

"Learning how to be Jewish?"

"And... what else?" Casey was afraid to ask. "Would I have to... would I... you know... Danny, I can't say it, because I can't cross my legs and drive," he said, looking nervous.

Dan chuckled.

"Daniel Rydell!"

"Yes, Casey?"

"I don't know how you expect me to be able to ... to fuckyou," he said, all in one word, "if you're frightening my manly articles up inside myself."

"Casey, you don't have to get circumcised if you choose, or have to, convert."

"I don't?"

"No, you don't."

"Okay... retraction of manly bits starting to ease off then."

"Good. I'm going to need those later."

"So you keep telling me," Casey murmured, taking a deep breath and starting to relax again.

Dan smiled. "Uh huh. It's going to be amazing."

"You sound very confident about that. Having never done it before, I'm less than confident, but hopeful."

"You should be more than hopeful. I'm amazing in bed."

"I'm not worried about _you_, Danny."

"You're worried about you."

"Yeah, kinda," Casey said, squirming and watching the road. _What if I get it wrong? What if I suck? What if you laugh at me? What if I'm terrible and you decide that this won't work?_

"You're not going to be bad at it, Casey."

"I just don't want to let you down," Casey said, rather embarrassed. Talking to the steering wheel.

"You won't let me down, Casey. How could you think you'll let me down?"

"Because right now, I want you so badly that I'm a little afraid I'll see you naked and just come, right then and there," Casey admitted.

"Well, if you do, then we get me off, make out for a long time, and then you fuck me."

"Oh." Casey blinked. "Well... that's just practical."

"I try hard."

"You realise that if I do, it'll be totally your fault, the way you're teasing me."

"Really? I'm teasing you?"

"Your hand, creeping up the inside of my thigh? Yeah, just a little bit with the teasing, Danny."

"I could jerk you off now."

"We're both gonna die."

"I've always wanted to blow someone in a car."

Casey checked in his rear view mirror, then hit the brakes, turning onto one of the little side roads that seemed to be everywhere, and driving until they were out of sight from the road. "Hi."

Dan looked at him for a moment, then unbuckled his seatbelt so fast it's a wonder the buckle didn't ricochet off the window and clock him in the head. "Push your seat back," he said.

Casey tugged off his seatbelt (remembering to unbuckle it might have made the process quicker), and shoved his seat back, already breathing faster. Oh God, this was probably stupid, and what was stupider was that he actually thought 'what if my mom finds out'?

"I'd actually meant while the blow job recipient was driving," Dan said, coolly, as he opened Casey's pants and pulled his dick free. "But this'll do, won't it?"

"Considering the low number of blowjobs I've currently received from you, and the reaction I've had so far, I really think we'd be better off not trying for road head," Casey said, gasping and closing his eyes for a second when Dan's hand closed around his dick.

Dan licked his lip, looked at Casey for a moment, then smiled. "I can't wait to have this in my ass," he said, and then leaned down and took Casey's cock into his mouth with a soft groan.

Oh _God_, Dan's gonna kill him, and Casey's gonna keep making like a kid with no control if Danny keeps doing that to him. He's glad he took off his seatbelt because it lets him rock up against Dan's mouth, moaning and moving one hand to rest against the back of Dan's head.

Dan moaned around Casey's cock, sucked hard, drew his mouth almost completely away, and then lowered his mouth again. He didn't hold Casey's hips this time; he wanted him to move, wanted to feel Casey's cock sliding against his tongue.

And Casey _needed_ to move, since he wasn't pinned. He let his head go back against the headrest, moaning and pushing his fingers against Dan's hair. He couldn't get a great grip, not with it as short as it was, but that was okay... he just wanted to touch.

Dan thought maybe he should grow his hair a little longer, give Casey something to grab. That'd be really, really hot. He moaned again, took a breath, relaxed, and took Casey's cock down, all the way down, and held him there.

"Fuck--Danny!" Casey gasped, banging his head on the headrest, one hand flying out to clutch at the steering wheel, almost hitting the horn. Oh my God, how could Danny _do_ that and still breathe?

Danny kind of couldn't. A moment later, and he pulled back, gasping for breath, and then he did it all over again, all the way down, his hand rubbing up over Casey's thigh.

The noise that Casey made when Dan pulled off was a little embarrassing, with how desperate it was and everything, but the groan of relief when Danny sucked him deep again made it all worth it. And then it got embarrassing again when Casey came so fast and out of nowhere that it even surprised him.

Dan swallowed when he pulled back, lifted a hand, and wiped at his mouth. "Good, aren't I?" he said, a little wickedly.

"Hnnnngfwah."

Dan leaned in and brushed his lips against Casey's ear. "You could've been having that since we were sixteen, McCall."

"You were that good when we were sixteen?" Casey said hoarsely, still clutching the steering wheel with one hand. "God, I really have been missing out."

"Well, okay, maybe not. But definitely by the time we hit university. Remember Pete?"

"Pete 'The Screamer'?"

"Pete the screamer."

"And now I know why. Our neighbours are going to hate us, Danny."

"Yeah, probably."

"Or start knitting whatever the gay equivalent of booties is."

Dan laughed.

"So... I should... we should... because we should get going, but you haven't..." Casey cleared his throat, looking down at Dan's lap.

"It's okay," Dan said, moving back in his seat.

"It's okay? I'm pretty sure reciprocity is as much of a golden rule thing here as it was with women, am I right?"

"We've gotta get home, Casey."

"You still want to go out and eat first? I can't talk you into a McDonalds or White Spot drive through?"

"Well, maybe White Spot."

Casey started the car, and whipped it around in a U-turn, heading for the highway.

Dan put his hand on Casey's thigh again.

Casey groaned. It was going to be a long, long couple hours drive.


	7. Chapter 7

Dan showed remarkable restraint when they got home. The food got put in the fridge; his things were brought into the house; some stuff even put in his bedroom. And then he fell on Casey, taking hold of his shoulders, clutching at him, drawing him down for a hard, demanding kiss. "Want you," he gasped out.

"Dan... Danny," Casey groaned against his mouth, tension flooding out of him now that he could actually touch Dan again, for real, none of that sneaking touches while driving crap.

If anyone dared to come to their house right now? Casey might just kill them.

"Bedroom." Dan clutched at Casey's shirt with both hands. "Please, Casey."

"Your room," Casey insisted, edging Dan backward, already steering him there. Dan was a lot more likely to have whatever it was they were going to need.

"There aren't any sheets or blankets or pillows on my bed," Dan protested, though he didn't try to stop Casey.

Casey smiled against Dan's mouth, then pushed him kind-of-gently into his bedroom. "Look again, Danny," he murmured.

Dan turned around and blinked. "Those aren't mine, Casey."

"They're ours," Casey said, actually sounding shy. "I went out and bought them, when I was still waiting for you to send Natalie the postcard so I could go find you. I wanted something for us, when you came back. So it didn't look so lonely. So I could do something while I hoped you'd come home to me."

Dan turned to look up at him again, then pulled him into a tight embrace and held on desperately. "I love you," he said.

"I love you," Casey said, murmuring the words against Dan's neck. "I missed you so much."

"You've got me back. I won't go anywhere unless it's with you."

"And I'm not going to Halifax. We're going to stay right here, and we're going to keep saving up, and we're gonna buy that store from JJ. And Alyson'll never have to wear anything resembling a uniform again."

"And hopefully she won't keep firing you."

"That would be nice. I get tired of being fired. Although next time she fires me, I think you should take an early day, and we should come home and have sex," Casey decided.

"I like your plan," Dan replied. Then he leaned up and kissed Casey again, and again, and started to unbutton his shirt.

Casey sighed, thinking about trying to unbutton Dan's shirt at the same time, then realising that would just lead to tangled arms and no shirts coming off. He kept his hands at Dan's hips instead.

Dan shoved Casey's shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. "Do you have any idea how much I want you?" he said. "God, Casey..."

"All I could think about the rest of the way home was how you'd sucked my dick and yours was still hard. Was it, Danny? The whole way home?" Casey asked, hands moving to Dan's belt.

"The whole way home," Dan told him. "I wanted to get us home faster, for this. Just for this. I want to come while you're fucking me."

"God, Danny... we really need to not be wearing pants anymore," Casey said, sounding just to the left of desperate. "Because I really, really want to be doing that."

Dan dropped unceremoniously to his knees and started opening Casey's pants. "I like the way you think," he said.

Casey just about fell down on his butt, just from seeing Dan hit his knees like that. "You really need to be careful when you do that because it basically renders me unable to _function_, Danny," he said hoarsely.

Dan looked up at him with a sweet little smile, and dragged his pants down his legs. He helped him out of his pants, and boxers, and socks, then leaned in and kissed his hip. "Fucking gorgeous," he murmured.

Casey wasn't really kidding about the losing the ability to function. Or stand. He almost fell again when Dan helped him out of his pants and boxers, feeling a little stupid standing there in front of Dan all naked... until Dan called him gorgeous. "Danny, I want you."

"Then get me naked," Dan said as he got to his feet.

Now it was Casey's turn to push Dan's shirt off his shoulders and unceremoniously drop to his knees. Which honestly must be something Dan'd practiced, because when Casey did it the same way, he was pretty sure he cracked a kneecap. Not to mention the added faceplant into Dan's crotch, which would have been fine if intentional, and less of a head butt.

Dan didn't mean to laugh out loud. Really, he didn't. Except for the part where he did laugh out loud, and he got to his knees again and wrapped his arms around Casey. "Ow," he said, plaintively, "I need those parts for the orgasm I intend to have later."

"I didn't... that was so not on purpose," Casey protested, blushing furiously and rubbing at his nose. Dan's thighs were possibly as strong and shapely as Casey's mother had told Casey his calves were. And his nose didn't take the impact all that well. Thank God he hadn't given himself a nose bleed.

Dan kissed him. "I know it wasn't," he told him. "You okay?"

"Your thighs are very strong and well muscled."

"Well, thank you," Dan said with another laugh.

"Should I try again on the getting you naked part?" Casey offered.

"That'd probably be a good idea. I'm still wearing pants."

"I'm not sure about all the details of what we're doing here, but I'm pretty sure I can't fuck you while you're wearing pants."

"No, it makes it really hard for you to get access to the necessary parts of me."

"Which I'm really certain I want to do, so... you should get up, before my legs cramp up, because this kneeling thing is kind of hard."

Dan got to his feet, opened his pants, and let them fall away. "Here we go," he said.

"God." And Casey just stared, for a few solid seconds, before he could even do the part he was supposed to do, and get Dan's pants and socks and all off. And then he just stayed right there. Staring again.

Dan hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers. "You've seen this before," he pointed out. "Over the last few days." And he gave his hips a little wiggle, and started to take the shorts off.

"Yeah, but... those are coming off, and we're really going to do this, and... this is like a really dirty dream or something." And Casey's legs really were cramping up.

"Get up here, Casey," Dan said. "Come on. I won't bite unless you ask."

He rocked back on his heels and stood up slowly, stretching his legs out, then reaching for Dan. "Hi. Biting maybe next time," he said, leaning in to kiss Dan, nice and slow. "You need to shave." He rubbed his cheek against Dan's. It was kind of nice.

"I can go do that if you want," Dan teased as he slipped his arms around Casey's shoulders.

Casey's arms wrapped around Dan's waist before he could think of moving. "Don't you dare."

"You want me to stay right here?"

"In this room, anyway. I think we should be moving soon. Maybe in the direction of the bed," Casey suggested.

"I like beds." Dan gave Casey a little push in that direction.

Casey stumbled backward a little, drawing Dan with him, then walking backward, fingers creeping lower until he cupped Dan's ass. Which he liked. A lot.

Dan groaned softly and rubbed against him. "Keep touching me," he said. "Please don't stop."

"Like this?" Casey asked, fingers pressing in harder, pulling Dan right up against him, then groaning in response. He liked that Dan was more or less the same height as he was. It lined things up nicely.

"Fuck, yes." Dan pushed Casey down onto the bed and crawled on top of him. "I've thought about this constantly the past couple of days."

Casey's hands moved away as he hit the bed, groaning at the thought of Dan thinking about this... imagining it. Teasing the crap out of Casey and thinking about it. He moved his hands back, resting them against the small of Dan's back, sliding them up to his shoulders, then all the way back down to his ass again.

Dan gave a moan that sounded almost like a purr, deep in his throat, leaned in, and kissed Casey. "I should get a condom and lube before I can't move," he said, "but I do not want to move. You feel good like this. Love your hands on me."

"You can come back," Casey suggested. "Right back, let me touch you some more."

"That sounds like a very good idea," said Dan, and kissed Casey before he slipped off the bed to go into one of his bags. When he returned, he straddled Casey's hips, braced his hands on Casey's chest, and smiled. "You are so fucking gorgeous, Casey."

"You are so fucking... straddling my hips, Dan," Casey said, unable to focus on anything but that at the moment. Although he did move his hands back to Dan's hips, creeping them back to his ass again. "Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"I still have absolutely no idea what to do. When I said I watched gay porn? I skipped this part."

Dan hushed him, gave him another kiss, and then pulled back to look at him. "We'll be okay. You'll be okay. It'll be amazing."

Casey hoped so. He didn't remember being this nervous the last first time he had. Of course... he was a lot younger then. And it wasn't Danny.

"So why did you skip this part?" Dan asked, teasing, as he brushed his thumb over Casey's nipple. Casey was kind of perfectly put together. Every part of him. He leaned in and kissed his neck.

"Because I was afraid I'd get caught watching it, so I kind of skipped past the foreplay. Which I'm pretty sure I've dated women who'd try to accuse me of the same thing." Which wasn't really true... but sometimes Sally got kind of bitchy when she thought Casey wasn't paying enough attention to what he was doing. Of course she was right about him not paying enough attention.

"We'll be okay," Dan repeated. He wriggled his way down Casey's body, licking and kissing over his chest, nuzzling at his belly button, getting closer and closer to Casey's cock. He needed Casey to relax. He was wound too tight.

Doing that? Was not going to make Casey relax. At least not until after Dan had pushed him past a certain point, anyway. Casey whimpered, hands pawing at Dan's shoulders.

Dan pressed kisses over Casey's belly and his hips and started to work his way down one thigh, and up the other, kneeling between his legs. He loved it when Casey made noises like that. There was nothing hotter.

"Dan, I won't... if you... Dan_ny_," Casey groaned, closing his eyes, head tossing against the pillow.

"You don't want me to suck you off?" Dan asked.

"I thought you wanted me to fuck you!" Casey was _so_ confused. And so turned on that he might be seeing things.

"I do want you to fuck me. I want it so bad I can't stand it. But I'm starting to wonder if you aren't just going to go off like a volcano."

Casey groaned and flopped one arm over his eyes. "This is your fault for being this hot. I haven't had this little control since I was fifteen."

Dan looked up at Casey for a moment, then started to climb up his body again, reaching for the condom and tearing open the packet. "This lack of self-control on your part is really hot, you know."

"Annabeth Berube didn't think so when we were in grade twelve," Casey said, moving his arm aside so he could watch Dan, mentally conjugating verbs in French and thinking of unattractive things.

Dan rolled the condom down over Casey's cock. "Yeah, well, she wasn't the right one for you," he muttered.

"No... no, she wasn't," Casey said, sounding strained as the condom rolled down. "And her brother Serge wasn't right for you."

"Serge was an asshole. He only wanted me for the head." Dan reached for the lube and squeezed some out over his fingers, reaching back to push one inside himself. He gave a very soft groan.

Oh, Casey was so, so completely screwed. His jaw snapped shut so fast he almost bit his tongue, throat working hard as he ... was Danny really... oh _fuck_, yes he was. Casey really shouldn't have skipped this part of the porn. This? _Hot_. "Well you really are very good," he said. Whispered. Whimpered. Seriously, this was getting embarrassing.

"Uh huh," said Dan, eyes fluttering closed when he pushed a second finger inside. He gave a very soft groan. "Mmm... that's nice..."

"What's... what's it feel like?" Casey asked, almost whispering the question. It looked like the answer is 'good', but he'd rather something a bit more specific.

Dan moaned in response, wriggling against Casey, then pulled his fingers free so he could slick lube over Casey's cock. "Doesn't feel nearly as nice as you're going to feel," he said.

"Well, if it did, you wouldn't need me for that, would you?" Casey said, rather lamely, but to be honest he was barely hanging on at the moment.

"Nope," said Dan, and he held Casey's cock as he started to sink down over it. His head fell back, he moaned, and he was pretty sure nothing had ever felt better than this.

Casey's eyes were so wide he was a little afraid he was going to sprain something, and he didn't breathe, not once, the whole time Dan was sinking down onto his cock. The seconds kept ticking by, and he still didn't breathe, not until his body kicked in and he gasped so loudly he started coughing. "Oh God... oh God, _Danny_," he rasped.

"I know, Casey," Dan gasped out, "I know. It's--oh _fuck_." He leaned forward, hands on the bed on either side of Casey, and he started to move over him. "C'mon, fuck me back. Please, Casey."

Oh God, and Dan expected him to _move_? Casey kept staring up at him, then tried to match his rhythm, feeling himself shaking as he pushed up into Danny's body--God, how could he possibly be so _tight_\--and tried to keep remembering to breathe.

Dan leaned ever closer, smiled at Casey, and spoke to him in a rough voice. "Isn't it good, McCall? Don't I feel good?"

And Dan had to go and talk to him. Like that. In that voice. Casey opened his mouth to try and warn him not to do that, but there just wasn't time. One hard buck of his hips and Casey came, closing his eyes and groaning in embarrassment.

Well. That was a story he hoped that Natalie never found out.

Dan paused a moment and looked down at Casey in absolute wonder. Did that really just happen? Yeah, he was pretty sure it did. A slow, wicked smile crossed his face, and he said, "Well now."

Casey couldn't even open his eyes he was so humiliated. "I'm sorry. Danny, I'm just... " He couldn't finish the sentence. He just wanted to crawl under the bed.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Are you sincerely asking me that question?"

"Yes, I am."

"Because I really did think I'd last longer than thirty seconds the first time we had sex for real, Danny," Casey said, cheeks flaming. "My emotional behaviour of late notwithstanding, I'm really not seventeen."

"It's okay, Casey. There was a lot of build up to this, and I don't think any number of blow jobs was going to make you relax."

He sighed. "Maybe not," he admitted. "It was a little anticlimactic though. While at the same time feeling really good, if only for me."

"You know the amazing thing about sex, Casey?"

"Tell me, Danny."

"We can do it again," Dan said, as he pulled away from Casey and turned to deal with the condom. "And you know what else?"

Casey groaned when Dan lifted up, then opened his eyes so he could look at him again. "Tell me what else."

Dan knelt next to him and took his own cock in his hand, starting to jerk off slowly. "We can do it again after _that_. And then again and again... every night, if we want to. Sometimes in the afternoon. If we ever decide to give some of our staff an evening off and close up the store together, we can lock up and you can fuck me over my desk."

He watched Dan, eyes locked on his hand on his cock, then reached out and covered Dan's hand with his, stopping him from moving. "Stop," he murmured. "Lie back."

Dan blinked, but he did what Casey told him to do, lying back against the (very comfortable, Casey had good taste) pillow. He smiled. "Now what?"

"Now I make my hair trigger up to you," Casey said softly, trailing his fingers down the length of Dan's cock, then lowering his head, mouthing at the shaft, very gently.

Dan closed his eyes and moaned. "Oh God, Casey. You don't have to do that."

"Danny?" Casey spoke right against his dick.

"Unh?"

"Shut up and let me," Casey murmured, looking up at him and smiling. "I'm thinking of you, not England."

"Well thank God for that," said Dan with a shaky laugh. "Oh, my God. Casey."

"So, with you being as good as you are and all, that's a pretty hard act to follow, you know," Casey said, between careful licks and slow drags of his lips. "I wonder... do people do this to you anywhere near as often as you do it to them?"

"Ehhn," said Dan. His hips shifted restlessly. Casey. Casey's _mouth_. Dan was going to die.

That wasn't an answer... except in the ways that it was. Casey kept going, his hand creeping between Dan's legs, almost petting at his balls, the touch so light, so gentle. He took a deep breath, and let it out right against Dan's now-damp skin, letting his fingers trail backward. Felt the slickness of the lube between his legs. "What's it feel like, Danny?" he whispered.

"Feels like your mouth," Dan said as his hips shifted restlessly on the bed. "Hot and wet and soft and--God--Casey."

Casey smiled, took a deep breath, and let his fingers creep backward. "And what's this feel like?" he whispered, even more softly. "Can I, Danny? Is that okay?" he asked, one fingertip just barely touching _right there_.

Dan gasped, spread his legs wider, lifted his hips off the bed for just a moment. He reached out and grabbed the lube so he could hand it over to Casey. "Here. Use this," he said, a little breathlessly. "I want your fingers inside me."

He took the lube and gooped it over his fingers, probably using way too much. "I don't want to hurt you," he said, feeling kind of stupid as soon as he did.

Dan laughed and pushed himself up onto one elbow, reached down with the other hand, and touched Casey's face. "You won't hurt me. Take it slow. One finger first."

"Okay... okay," Casey murmured, leaning into Dan's hand, then eased just the tip of his finger inside, holding his breath the whole time.

Dan smiled and took in a little breath, then let it out on a moan. "That's it, Casey. More. Give me everything."

"More?" Casey said, smiling too and daring to push his finger deeper, then deeper still, since Dan seemed to like it so much.

Dan moaned and flopped back. "Yeah. More. That's it, Casey."

He felt very awkward, and wasn't entirely confident of his ability to multitask while doing this, but Casey decided to try anyway. He eased his finger back, then pushed it deep again, leaning down and licking at Dan's cock.

Another gasp, and Dan nearly came up off the bed. _Casey_. "That's--yes." They were going to have so very much fun together if Casey was willing to take chances.

"God, you sound sexy," Casey murmured, voice muffled against Dan's skin. He kept moving his finger, turning it gently inside Dan's body, wanting to see how he reacted. Wanting to do nothing but watch him. Ever.

"Another--another. Casey!" Dan couldn't manage a proper, coherent sentence. That was a good sign. He squeezed his eyes shut and took hold of the sheets. "Casey."

Another... another what? Another finger? Must be. Casey eased his head back so he can watch Dan's face as he pushed a second one in beside the first.

"Yes." That was it. That was exactly what Dan needed. He groaned and lifted his hips, his own hand going down to his cock. "Yes--close--God!"

Casey wasn't quite brave enough to full-out suck Dan's cock yet, but he kept going, licking around Dan's fingers, pushing his own fingers deep, tugging them back, and pushing them in all over again.

It was enough. It was more than enough. Dan gave a soft cry and came, arching up off the bed for a moment before he fell still again, panting for breath.

His head jerked back without any conscious thought needing to be involved, far enough that Casey could watch while Dan came. Casey stopped breathing for a few seconds, feeling Dan's muscles tensing around his fingers, imagining how it would feel to be inside Dan when that happened. "Danny."

"Unh," said Dan.

Casey smiled, looking almost mischievous as he leaned forward and licked at a bit of the come on Dan's stomach. "Hi," he murmured, looking up at him again.

"Ehhn," Dan said.

"That's good, right?" Casey tugged his fingers back out and moved up closer to Dan.

Dan reached for him wordlessly.

Casey moved into Dan's arms, brushing a kiss against his jaw. "Danny? I love you," he whispered.

Dan held him tight. "I love you," he whispered back.

"Welcome home."


End file.
